Cold Tea
by dualbloodlines
Summary: "I have it easy, because I don't have to forget," Robin continued, looking back at her. "People like us, we have to make new happy memories to replace the old, and find new things to smile about." Lucina struggles to choose between her mission for the greater good and her own feelings. A Robin and Lucina fanfic that very generally follows the arc of the second half of the game.
1. Remember to Smile

**Hello, all! Just a few things about this story before I begin...**

**This is my attempt at a legit(?) Robin and Lucina fic, so if you happen to enjoy that pairing then hopefully this will be the story for you! Ever since Robin and Lucina were both announced for Smash Bros and after watching their support conversations (especially the DLC Hot Spring Scramble one - it's adorable if they're married), I've gotten really into this pairing and felt the need to write something about it with all of the ideas swimming in my head. I think it adds a whole new deeper element to the plot of Awakening by pairing these two, so I enjoy it because of the conflict it brings up.**

**I aim to follow the general plot progression throughout the second half of Awakening, starting a little before the attack on Walhart and Valm Castle, but adding in a bunch of little scenes of my own. I'm also planning to do scenes after the game is completed, kinda like an epilogue of sorts. Should be about 20-ish chapters when it's done and hopefully more. **

**I hope to keep it regularly updated as long as time regarding high school permits, so be sure to stay tuned!  
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**EDIT: The chapter has been updated with less grammar fixes and slight changes that will hopefully make the story flow better! **

_In which Robin talks about his family and Lucina awkwardly watches him eat  
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><p>Chapter 1 – Remember to Smile<p>

Robin stood by the flap of the mess tent as the Shepards piled in for dinner, all eager for a full meal after their most recent battle. The warm rays of the sun were losing their intensity as night took hold over camp. It was sort of a habit that Robin had developed, likely stemming from his tactician duties, to keep watch over everyone. If the Shepards were a band of misfits, they were a close knit band of misfits, and not a single one could be defined as a "normal" soldier. All of the Shepards were unique in their own ways; even Stahl, who called himself average, had quirks that made him who he was. After fighting alongside someone in a life or death situation, it was hard not to get along. These relationships were what gave the Shepards their strength: everyone looked out for one another, and no one was left to die on the battlefield if it could be helped. Robin always checked after every skirmish that everyone made it back alive and safe. Even now with the dire stakes of Valmese campaign, the nostalgic feeling of fighting off simple street thugs with the original Shepards still remained strong.

Robin reminded himself to mentally add one more member to the army's ranks tonight. The Shepards had discovered Lissa's theatrical future son Owain in the Sage's Hamlet, who promptly joined them once he recognized his parents. There was also something about "steadying his sword hand," but Robin had yet to discover what that meant. To Robin, the heartwarming reunion between parent and child was such a beautiful sight. Lissa was crying joyful tears for ten minutes straight when the realization that she was a mother finally sank in, and her son was just as happy to see her again. Despite the fact that their parents didn't even know their future children yet, the familial connection was still there, a bond that transcended the rivers of time. Robin made sure to double his efforts to keep the Shepards out of harm's way every time one of the future children arrived. If he put any of the parents in a risky situation and they fell in battle, he would be responsible for the children having to relive their parents' deaths all over again. He would never be able to forgive himself. Even though he knew the Shepards were his family, Robin briefly wondered what that feeling actually was, to be a parent. The very notion of him having a child arrive from the future was impossible anyway, so he pushed the thought out of his mind.

He ran through the list in his mind of all the names of those who had passed him. Everyone was accounted for, except one: Lucina had not shown up to eat again. She rarely ever came and barely spoke when she did, and it seemed like she only appeared to reassure Chrom that she was indeed eating and not starving to death. Robin glanced over what he could glimpse of the campsite, scanning to see if she was just running late, but like he expected Lucina failed to appear. Was she not getting along with the rest of the group? The other future children seemed to acclimate just fine within a few days, easily integrating and finding their places within the Shepards' ranks. Lucina had been a part of the army the longest of all of them, but she didn't appear to be adjusting well in comparison. Robin sighed at the thought. He knew that she liked her space, but not eating for long periods of time wasn't healthy. After poking his head briefly into the mess tent both to give Chrom a silent indication he would join them in a little while and to make one more final check that everyone else was accounted for, Robin set out to search for the elusive young woman.

Fortunately, Robin was not completely in the dark regarding the habits of the blue-haired princess. He knew that Lucina spent much of her free time practicing her swordplay, so he decided to check the training field first. The clash of metal striking metal confirmed his assumption. Getting close enough so that he could view the field in its entirety, he caught sight of Lucina slashing away at a practice dummy. Her skill with her sword, the Falchion that paralleled the one owned by Chrom in this timeline, was spectacular, easily far superior to his own and definitely a match for that of Lon'qu's. If Lon'qu wasn't such a gynophobe, he would probably be challenging her to sparring matches constantly.

Robin couldn't help but be mesmerized by the strength and determination that Lucina conveyed with every swing of her weapon. One could learn quite a bit about someone's personality from their fighting style, a technique that he had become quite good at given the colorful diversity of the Shepards, but Lucina's was especially hard to pin down. She was relentless, hacking away at her helpless target as if she had an intense quarrel with it, yet every attack was remarkably controlled and accurate, allowing her to connect her blows with little to no error.

One part of him didn't want to interrupt her devoted endeavor to annihilate what was left of the training dummy, but Robin figured that Lucina getting a proper meal first was more important. Trying to approach obviously as to not startle the girl, Robin called out to her.

"If that dummy could speak it would be begging for mercy," he joked.

Lucina instantly grew tense and whirled around, blade ready to fight off an intruder, but she dropped her fighting stance when she realized it was no foe.

"Oh, hello Robin." Lucina sighed, sheathing Falchion. "Don't sneak up on me like that when I'm training," she scolded. "If you had been any closer, I probably would have assumed you to be an enemy."

"Sorry! I tried to be as conspicuous as I could, but I guess I wasn't good enough," Robin grinned. "I must be hanging around Kellam too much," he joked in an attempt to lighten the mood, but was only met by a blank gaze. Whether she found the joke unamusing or she just didn't get it Robin couldn't tell, but he made a mental note not to crack another one.

"What brings you here at this hour?" the girl asked, sitting down on a large crate to catch her breath. "Shouldn't you be eating with the others?"

"That's actually why I came. I wanted to bring you to have some dinner with us. You don't show up that often, and I'm worried you aren't getting enough to eat," he explained.

Lucina frowned, her brow furrowed as if in thought, and she broke eye contact with him, taking a sudden interest in a small rock on the ground. "I... am fine," she hesitated, shuffling the rock in between her feet. "I eat enough to sustain myself. My father knows. I do not have time for a large meal."

"Well that's just insane!" Robin exclaimed. Lucina turned towards him again in surprise. "You can't practically starve yourself when we have more than enough food!" he argued. "It's not healthy! You're going to work yourself to death!"

"I assure you I can manage, Robin. I need to focus on my training," Lucina responded definitively. She got up off the crate and took a few steps away in an attempt to end the conversation there, trying to avoid Robin's gaze.

"You can take a break, you know," Robin softened his tone, recognizing that she was clearly unsettled by his comment. "Everyone needs rest."

Lucina stood in silence for a moment, then finally replied. "Not me. I cannot afford it," she said firmly.

"Lucina..." Robin attempted to argue.

"Really, I'm fine," she cut him off. "I appreciate your concern for me, but I really must get back to work."

Robin frowned, annoyed that he was unable to convince her otherwise, but he wasn't the kind of person to admit defeat so easily either. The tactician in him kicked into high gear, and he quickly formulated a new approach to the problem.

"I guess I'll go and grab a bite to eat then myself. I'll see you around," he threw his hands up in mock failure as he turned to leave.

"Goodbye, Robin," the girl replied distractedly, already focused on assembling a new sparring target.

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><p>Lucina gritted her teeth and imagined her target to be a much more threatening foe as she assumed her battle stance, which she had modeled off of her father's but had altered slightly to fit her smaller body frame. Holding Falchion close to her face, she glared at the dummy with a burning intensity, the image of one of the walking corpses that haunted her future materializing in her mind. <em>It's just one more Risen<em>, she told herself. One less monster that could bring harm to her friends. One little step closer to protecting them. This was why she was here, why she had been sent to this world. Nothing would stop her second chance. Pointing Falchion's tip directly at her target's chest, she lunged forward.

"Lucina!"

"Gah!" she shouted, losing her focus and skidding to halt. She turned around in annoyance to search for whoever had called her. "Not while I'm... Robin?" Sure enough, it was Robin again, striding towards her holding two trays of food. "I thought you left to eat dinner with everyone."

"No way. Not while someone I know is working hard. So I figured that if you wouldn't come to dinner, I'd have to bring the dinner to you!" he held out one of the trays he was carrying to her, smiling triumphantly.

Lucina stared at him, more curious than angry. Did he really care that much? She caught a whiff of the steaming meal held out right under her nose, and her mouth began to water a little. It did look really good. _Gods, I must look like an utter fool, drooling over some food_, Lucina reprimanded herself.

"I guess... I'm a little bit hungry," she admitted. She was slowly reaching out to take the tray from him when her stomach let out a growl far too loud for their quiet surroundings, causing her cheeks to turn bright pink in embarrassment.

"Ha! I knew it!" Robin laughed. "The stomach never lies!"

Lucina sat down with the tray in her lap, looking mortified. "I'm sorry! That was very rude of me," she apologized.

"Don't be sorry! That's just you telling yourself you need food." As if on cue, Robin's stomach let out a low moan as well. He fell silent for a second, then burst out laughing again. Lucina tried to maintain a straight face, but couldn't help giving a small smile. "Speaking of being hungry!" Robin exclaimed. "Do you mind if I sit?"

"Oh, not at all!" Lucina replied, still a little flustered, and shifted herself over on the crate so Robin could take a seat next to her.

"Well this looks delicious, doesn't it? Go on, dig in!" he told her, picking up a fork and starting to jab at a mound of potatoes.

Lucina didn't know how to react to Robin's sudden concern over her, and absentmindedly just watched him attack his plate. He eventually caught her, looking a bit puzzled as to why she was staring at him and not devouring her own meal, and motioned with a nod of his head that it was okay to start eating. Lucina blushed deeply again and immediately shifted her attention to her own plate as if nothing had happened. Fork in hand, she piled on a little bit of everything before taking a bite. The warm meal tasted fantastic, much better than any of the cold scraps from the leftovers she would grab once everyone had left the mess tent, and she eagerly took another bite. The two ate quietly for a while until Robin finally broke the silence.

"That was nice, you know," he said, staring off into the distance.

"Hmm?" Lucina swallowed what was in her mouth, and questioningly looked at him. "What was?"

"That was the first time I think I've ever seen you smile. You always seem so serious and stressed out, so it made me happy to see you relaxed for once, that's all. I guess that sounds a little weird when you say it out loud," Robin realized.

"No, that's...," Lucina was at a loss for words. "I guess I don't smile much, do I?"

"Not much," he agreed. "But your smiles are genuine, and that's not a bad thing at all. I wouldn't be smiling all that much if I came from the awful world you described." Robin's tone was immediately much more somber and serious.

"There was nothing to be happy about," Lucina contemplated sadly. "With every passing day there was more misfortune, more suffering..., more death..." She inhaled deeply before finishing, looking down at her almost empty plate and squeezing her eyes shut. "You wake up one day and find that your whole world... fell apart overnight."

Lucina's eyes shot open when she realized that Robin had put a hand on her shoulder. She tried to avoid all forms of physical contact unless absolutely necessary, so the touch of someone else was foreign to her. If she hadn't been talking about her future she would have brushed him off immediately, but the warmth of his hand gave her an unknown comfort.

"Hey, it's okay now," he told her softly. "You're here, and you made it through the worst. Chrom and Sumia are here too, and neither of them are going anywhere on my watch. I couldn't even imagine losing my parents in such a way..."

"But what about you?" Lucina objected, eager to avoid the topic of her father's death. "It must have been hard for you too. At least I have childhood memories of my parents. You... don't have that, much less even memories of who your parents are." She met his stare to find his auburn brown eyes deep in contemplation.

"That's true," Robin admitted. "I don't know what a mother and father's love feels like, so I'm not the best judge of what you felt by any means." He paused, eye catching on the first faint star appearing in the evening sky. "It was scary," he said at last. "Not knowing who I was, where I came from, or what I was meant to be. But ever since the day I woke up and your father found me, I was able to create new memories and dreams. It's okay that I don't remember my old family, whoever they were, because I made a new one. Everyone here is very special to me, and no matter how strange they can be sometimes, I wouldn't trade them for anything, even my old life back."

"I have it easy, because I don't have to forget," Robin continued, looking back at her. "People like us, we have to make new happy memories to replace the old, and find new things to smile about."

"Do you really think so?" she asked in awe, struck both by how much he seemed to understand and how genuine his words seemed.

"One hundred percent positive," Robin replied assuredly, placing dirty plates back on his tray and tucking his utensils underneath them. He slowly hoisted himself up, clutching the tray in one hand.

"Well, I'm going to bring this back to the mess tent," he sighed, gazing off in its direction. "You're important to a lot of people, Lucina, myself included. Please don't make those people worry too much, okay?" He looked back at her with a gentle smile. "I'll leave you to your business then. I apologize if you felt uncomfortable by my intruding." He turned to leave as Lucina hurriedly replied.

"No! Don't be sorry! It... it was nice talking to someone for a change. Thank you for dinner."

"Anytime," Robin looked over his shoulder. "Let me know if you need anything else. Good night!" he spoke, giving a small wave before continuing on his way.

"Good night," Lucina quietly repeated at Robin's receding figure, already disappearing into the darkness of night. She ran her gloved hand through the strands of her cobalt blue hair, and found herself already missing the other hand on her shoulder. What Robin had said about making new memories... Could what he had said be true? Trust was something she had seemingly lost along with her smile, but both seemed to want to return to her tonight. He had said that she was special to him, but how so? Was it just because she was his best friend's daughter, or did he mean something else entirely? And why was it that she had been so embarrassed around him? Robin had left her with more questions than answers, and already her mind was racing to piece together reasonable answers. Lucina felt something warm in her heart, and there was one thing she knew for sure: it wasn't her meal.

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><p><strong>So there's their first actual conversation together - nothings happens just yet, but... <strong>

**What do you guys think? I'd love to hear what people have to say about my writing and such, so what you like about it or what things could be changed/improved a bit to make them better! **


	2. Dishonorable Tactics

_In which Lucina loses track of time and Robin gets an unexpected surprise_

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><p>Chapter 2 – Dishonorable Tactics<p>

Lucina awoke the next morning still feeling somewhat sleepy yet rather refreshed. Letting out a small yawn, she lazily put together an outfit to wear for the day. Fortunately it wasn't that hard to do considering she wore the same thing almost every day. It was washed often and kept neat of course; she didn't want her clothes to resemble those of Gaius's with all the stains and the distinct musk of filth before Cordelia beat him into shape. Apparently sticking to the color blue was in her best interest too if she took her mother's subtle criticisms of her fashion sense to heart.

Fixing her gloves into place, she set out for her father's tent to see if he was awake yet. As she shuffled down the path, Lucina couldn't help but notice the lack of activity around the other tents. There were always at least a few Shepards awake before the sun even broke the night's dark hold with the light of day, but they appeared to be absent today. How odd, she noted to herself, weaving between some storage crates to reach the tent Chrom shared with her mother Sumia. Poking her head through the tent flap just a little in case her parents weren't decent, she called out softly.

"Father! Are you awake yet?"

No reply. Could he still be asleep? It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility, she supposed. Cynthia had told her numerous times that Chrom was rather stubborn getting out of bed when she would charge in at some ungodly hour and try to get him to tend to her pegasus with her. She complained to Lucina that she and Chrom weren't getting enough "father-daughter time" and that the morning was the only time he was free. Lucina didn't blame her father one bit though, as she assumed that even having a wyvern screech in your ear was a more pleasant wake-up call than Cynthia in the morning.

"Father!" she said again a little louder, stepping into the tent. "Are you here?"

Upon closer examination of the tent's interior, neither her father nor her mother was anywhere to be found. They must have gotten an early start today, Lucina assumed, stepping out of the tent and stretching her limbs a bit. Now where would they have gone? They must be getting ready for breakfast, she thought, and set her next destination for the center of camp.

Getting closer she could hear voices coming from mess tent, and she couldn't help but wonder if the rest of the Shepards had missed Robin not being there last night. Last night. The still unanswered questions fluttered throughout her head like butterflies to flowers. From the moment Robin had left her, Lucina had spent the remainder of the night with questions of trust and memories on her mind. They definitely needed some more attention later today, Lucina sighed.

Walking through the open tent flap, eyes still half-closed, she gave a general "Good morning, everyone," to the group.

The voices stopped entirely and the tent fell dead silent. "More like good afternoon, love," Lucina heard her mother's voice respond after a moment.

"Wha..?" Lucina opened her eyes wider and immediately took into account that all the tables were arranged differently, all lined up in a straight formation. All of the other Shepards were crowding around the center, where she noticed Chrom and Robin standing together over some papers. They must be talking about tactics, but the tactics meeting wasn't until...

"What time is it?" Lucina asked in a semi-panic mode.

Her father turned to face her with a smile on his face. "Almost noon actually," he replied bluntly.

"Almost noon!?" Lucina cried incredulously, mouth hanging agape. "But that means the tactics meeting is almost over! Why didn't you wake me!?" she asked in horror, looking at Chrom like he was insane.

"We thought you would want to sleep in," Chrom said, looking somewhat guilty now. "You don't get much sleep as it is. I mean, you're always awake dawn until dusk training when you have any down time, so I thought it would be a nice change of pace." Noticing the expression of utter dread twisting rapidly across his daughter's face, Chrom also felt it necessary to add, "It was all Robin's idea."

Robin turned immediately at Chrom, looking somewhat betrayed that his friend would attempt such underhanded tactics against him. "Hey! Don't make me look like the bad guy! I just put the idea out there! You're the one who carried through with it!"

"I didn't say I wanted to let her sleep in! If you hadn't been so insistent I would have woken her up like I originally planned!" Chrom rebuked. Her father was stubborn all right.

Robin pointed his finger up at Chrom, apparently deciding to play his trump card. "Correct me if my memory proves false, but did you not tell me it was an excellent idea when I suggested it?"

Chrom opened his mouth to respond, but didn't have the ability to. "I... did say it was an okay idea...," he mumbled angrily in defeat.

"And I thought I was the one with the memory issue," Robin gloated with a devilish grin.

"I watch exactly who I was talking to if I were you, pal," Chrom found a comeback of sorts. "It would be such a shame if a certain tactician I know got demoted to..."

"Boys, please," Sumia sighed, taking it upon herself to end the dispute. "If you two are going to fight like angry little schoolgirls _at least_ do it when the entire army isn't around to listen to you."

Sumia's comment seemed to bring the two men back to the reality of their situation, and the sheepish looks they both put on at least brought out a few laughs from some of the other Shepards. Lucina may have even found it funny herself if she wasn't completely mortified of her own lateness. At least their argument turned some of the attention away from her temporarily, and she hurried to take her place among the crowd before they could notice her again.

"Don't worry about it, Lucina," her father reassured. "Robin can fill you in on everything we touched on later. Won't you, Robin, tactician of mine?" Chrom cocked his head towards the man besides him with eyebrows raised.

"Oh, of course, milord!" Robin replied dramatically, addressing Chrom's dislike for formalities. "I'm quaking in my boots as I imagine your wrath if I don't comply!"

Lucina could only give a hushed groan of embarrassment, suddenly becoming aware of the sheer number of other eyes trained on her.

Chrom chuckled then gave Robin a friendly punch on the arm before he addressed the whole group. "So regarding the plan we all agreed on earlier, does anyone have any questions? It's important that you know all this for the fight we have ahead."

Owain's hand shot up from amongst the crowd, and he began to speak. "Now you may know I crave unique battling styles and all..."

"Unique" was one way to put it. Lucina rolled her eyes, finding it hard to believe that he was her cousin. She loved Cynthia as a little sister, but felt that it would make much more sense for her to be Owain's twin.

"But is this plan truly going to be effective against the proposed might of this fiendish conqueror?" Owain continued. His doubts were perfectly understandable though given that he obviously hadn't experienced any of Robin's strange but brilliant plans yet.

"I sure hope so," Robin laughed nervously. "It was the best I could come up with."

"It will work," Chrom added. "It always does."

"Not always...," Robin murmured, suddenly appearing very ashamed.

"You could have never prepared for that," Chrom reassured his friend quietly. "It wasn't your fault." They must be talking about Emmeryn, Lucina thought, thinking back with a grimace. She arrived too late on that day as well.

"But yes," Chrom addressed Owain again. "Trust that the plan will work exactly as Robin described."

"Fascinating..." Owain covered his face with his hand, his fingers half-closing into a fist. If Lucina didn't know him any better she probably would have assumed that he was going to punch himself in the nose. "My sword hand cannot help but twitch in excitement!"

Chrom raised an eyebrow at Owain's theatrics, but after many months of recruiting the Shepards' elite he had gotten somewhat used to the relatively odd behavior that all of them exhibited in one way or another. What a strange little extended family her father had, Lucina thought to herself.

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><p>"May I know of our strategy now, Father?" Lucina asked expectantly as the others were slowly filing out at the meeting's conclusion.<p>

Chrom also looked like he was in a hurry to leave as well, only quickly responding, "I'm afraid I can't help you right now, Lucina. Trust me, I'd much prefer it. Robin knows the plan better than I do anyway." He gave a deep sigh of reluctance, scratching the back of his head with one hand. "I promised your sister I would help her groom her pegasus..."

Lucina grinned at the coincidence, asking, "How did Cynthia ever convince you to do that?"

Chrom shrugged, muttering "I must have been delirious when she jumped into my bed at four in the morning yesterday... Gods, what have I gotten myself into?" He sulked out of the tent, leaving Lucina alone with Robin.

She gave her father a wave of goodbye as well as good luck. Chrom was not the sort of person who would enjoy playing a few rounds of hero with her younger sister. Lucina walked over near where Robin remained hunched over his maps and strategy books, organizing himself.

"Robin, if it isn't any trouble, do you mind filling me in on our plan of attack?"

Robin turned around, clutching a few papers that he was still tucking into dog-eared pages of a large, old-looking tome.

"Sure, of course. Here, come over," he gestured with a flick of his hand towards the table. Lucina obeyed and strode next to him, curiously eying some diagrams of the terrain surrounding Walhart's castle. She had come to learn a thing or two about tactics in her future when she had to make decisions without an adviser, but the more complex aspects confounded her. Lucina had to hand it to Robin: judging from the sheer number of warfare elements that she observed from topography to strengths and weaknesses of every soldier, his job must be much more difficult than she originally assumed. How he wasn't stressed all the time was beyond her.

"Before I forget, Maribelle made some tea for everyone before the meeting started, and we saved you a cup for when you got here so you could liven up a little. Sorry if it's cold," Robin apologized, reaching across the table to retrieve a small teacup. It was almost filled to the rim, so Lucina made sure to take him from him carefully.

"Oh, thank you," she expressed with relief. "I could use some tea this morning," she told him as she took a small sip of the lukewarm yet savory beverage. "Speaking of this morning," she lowered the cup from her lips. "Why did you tell my father to not wake me? I thought you would know that I like getting up early," she asked with a subtle hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I guess to shorten my explanation, I just thought you would be happier this morning actually," Robin replied, now slightly unsure of himself given Lucina's tone. "You're always working so hard, so I thought you deserved a break. After last night's what I assumed to be a nice dinner and a good night's sleep, I thought you would be in a better mood today, you know?"

"I suppose I do feel a little more refreshed," the girl admitted. "But I can't stop

working towards what I came here for. That is why every moment of free time I have must be spent training for the battles that loom ahead. I must protect my father."

"I understand why you feel that, and I'm not saying not to protect Chrom by any means, but you don't have to keep working on getting better all the time. I mean, you're swordplay is awe-inspiring really; no one could beat you in hand to hand combat when you're determined, so you don't have to worry about that." He set the book he was holding down on the table and became slightly pink in the face. "You're already amazing."

Lucina bit her lip as Robin's words from last night came back to her as well, that she was special to him.

"You're flattering me," Lucina spoke quietly, slightly disappointed in what she was saying.

"I'm serious!" The tactician frowned and dropped both hands on the table like he was an impassioned speaker over a debate. "I know how much responsibility can weigh someone down sometimes. If I didn't take breaks with my job, I would crumble under the stress and go mad, and I don't want that to happen to you."

"No, you couldn't understand what I need to do!" Lucina argued, advancing towards him in an attempt to make a point. Somehow trying to argue with him didn't feel right, especially now that she was beginning to doubt herself, but she couldn't back down from her mission. "You've never seen what happens when my father...," she began, however completely forgot she was still holding a full cup of tea. In the process of walking towards him, she managed to spill some carelessly on the side of Robin's coat. Robin leaped back in surprise of having received a tea bath, and Lucina pulled the cup back in horror, spilling more of the drink on the floor.

"Ah! Robin! I am so sorry!" she gasped. First she was terribly late for Robin's tactics meeting, and then she had to go and dump a cup full of tea on him. How could he possibly think she was so wonderful after that?

"Oh, no problem!" Robin distractedly assured, holding the wet part of his coat

away from the rest of his clothes so the liquid wouldn't seep into them. "Good thing it wasn't hot actually," he casually joked.

"But that's your favorite coat! That tea will probably stain!" Lucina couldn't

believe how he was treating her stupid accident so nonchalantly. Robin and that coat were inseparable; it was a part of him. "Here, I'll clean it up for you! I promise!" She was already trying to plan out a method to removing the stain, but apparently Robin felt otherwise.

"No, it doesn't matter that much! Not that I'm saying that you won't be able to fix it, because I'm sure you could, but you have enough to worry about. I'll have Cordelia look at it later today. She's an expert with these kinds of things," Robin told her as he dropped the part of the coat he was holding, satisfied that it was dry enough to not affect the rest of his garments.

"Robin, that was completely my fault so I..."

"Really, no big deal. The stain gives it personality," he grinned. "I guess it's about time that this thing got a little dirty actually; I'm honestly surprised it hasn't gotten torn to shreds yet." Judging from the look on Lucina's face, Robin figured that she wasn't about to let the topic go so quickly, so he made an attempt to divert her attention.

"By the way, what were you trying to tell me before... you know...," he gestured at the teacup.

Lucina winced, secretly hoping that after that whole ordeal he would have forgotten that she was going to say something. Everything she was going to say seemed noble initially but now sounded rather mean and selfish. If she could phrase it carefully enough she may be able to not sound like an utterly heartless person.

"The world that will come if my father dies is a terrible place. No one is safe, for not a single soul can escape the fell dragon's wrath," she spoke slowly, wanting to drag her point out as long as possible. "If I do not focus on my training, there's a chance I will fail, and if I do so I'll have only brought the apocalypse upon another timeline. I cannot afford any distractions." Her motives were perfectly reasonable, she thought, but why was explaining them so difficult?

"I cannot afford any distractions," she repeated. "So that means I kindly wanted to ask you... to leave me... alone."

Robin's grin disappeared, and he looked as if she had just slapped him across the face. He stared at her with a saddened realization. "So I was bothering you last night..."

"Yes...," Lucina hesitantly responded, as technically if she had just said that interrupting her training bothered her. But it couldn't be bothering if she had enjoyed it... "But no!" she rejected her previous statement. "Last night was different!"

Robin only seemed to hear her agreement, and looked at her square in the eyes. Lucina had never seen such a somber look on his face before; it was so forlorn to Robin's generally upbeat personality that it didn't appear possible.

"If that's how you feel..., then I'll leave you alone."

Something in the tone of his voice made Lucina avert her eyes immediately and regret everything she had said. She somehow managed to choke out a "Yes, please," despite what she now felt. She couldn't do this. Learning about the battle strategy would have to wait for another time. She had to leave now. Not turning to look back at Robin's face for fear of what she would see, Lucina turned heel and ran to the exit.

"Lucina...," she heard him call out, but she ignored him and didn't stop running until she reached her own personal tent, where she ducked inside immediately to be alone. She wanted to scream at herself. She would never run away from a battle, would

never show cowardice or fear in the face of anyone. It was against everything she had trained for. Why had she run and not faced him? Lucina buried her face in her hands, cursing herself for openly showing such weakness. It wasn't just the self-inflicted disgrace to her honor that she was upset about. It was the unspoken pain that she had seen in Robin's deep brown eyes that was causing her pain as well. How had she not immediately recognized the emotion when it was like looking in a mirror? She had to tell him about why she had to keep training, but to inflict that feeling upon someone else when she herself was suffering from it... Lucina couldn't think straight anymore with all the conflicting emotions running rampant through her head.

_Damn it, Robin! Why are you making me feel like this!?_

* * *

><p><strong>Let's add a bit of conflict shall we? Does the title make sense now?<br>**

**Robin and Chrom would definitely argue like dorks a lot btw**

**As a sidenote to explain how I'm going to characterize Lucina throughout the story so she doesn't seem like a total jerk sometimes - I see her as being very devoted to her duty of saving the past and preventing her future. Lucina doesn't want the horrors of her future to come upon another timeline, so it's hard for her to focus on anything else because she feels that it's her responsibility and if she fails she fails everyone. The problem is that because she was stripped of things a child needs early in life, her perception on her own feelings is damaged in a way, so she doesn't know how to recognize what she feels and how react to certain scenarios. Fortunately that's going to change real soon...**


	3. Decisions, Good and Bad

**Chapter 3, now with more action! **

**This chapter will be one of the few that have some fighting scenes, because I figured that the Shepards are at war and all, and skipping every major battle in between chapters wouldn't exactly have the greatest effect. I hope the fighting is dramatic enough to even be considered fighting... It's only for the first half of the chapter, so don't worry just yet if action isn't your thing!  
><strong>

_In which Robin's strategy does work out as planned and Lucina gets seriously injured_

* * *

><p>Chapter 3 – Decisions, Good and Bad<p>

"Hyah!" Lucina shouted as she cleaved her blade through the armor of an enemy cavalier. This was war, this was her element.

She heard the unmistakable choke of a last breath, and then she swung Falchion to her side over her head, using the momentum of her attacking foe to throw him off his mount easily. The armored horse whinnied nervously at the sudden loss of its master and galloped away in confusion into the forest surrounding the battlefield. Yanking Falchion from the Valmese man's lifeless body, she reassumed a battle-ready stance as another horseman charged her from the right.

Waiting until the horse had broken into a full sprint, she leaped out from its direct path, locking weapons with its rider in the process and throwing him off the saddle to the ground. Nimbly jumping back up onto his feet, the man reclaimed his spear and held its tip pointed at Lucina, using the reach of his weapon as an advantage to push her away. The man attempted a fruitless jab at her leg, but Lucina predicted the attack and slammed her sword's hilt on the wooden handle of the spear, fracturing the other weapon. The cavalier couldn't hope to respond to the counterattack before Lucina plunged Falchion into his chest, and he muttered a garbled yelp before slumping to the ground.

Lucina turned away, shifting her focus once more to her immediate surroundings. Killing still sickened her; the first time she had engaged in a true battle in her timeline she was haunted by the vision of her dying opponent for weeks. It couldn't be avoided though, and experience slowly hardened her mind against the feelings of guilt that had plagued her. She sought to perfect her swordplay techniques to kill quickly, not to annihilate her foes but to make their suffering as brief as possible. Lucina had experienced too much pain in the world to take any enjoyment in inflicting it upon others.

The Shepards were locked in the middle of a battle against Walhart's elite defense calvary during their siege on the Valmese capitol, and Robin's master plan was just about to go into effect. After the Ylissean army had dispensed of the initial wave of cavaliers and knights, the Valmese began to charge with full force, planning to overwhelm the Shepards with sheer numbers and power. Lucina could hear Robin shouting commands over the chaos.

"In position! Steady! Wait until they closer!" he barked, directing their mages to form a widespread line on either side of him, forming a defensive wall in front of the other Shepards. The tactician knew the Valmese would expect the logical reverse choice, the heavy armored units protecting the lesser ones. He wanted Walhart's army to believe that they had the Shepards cornered, and judging from their confident shouts the Valmese had taken the bait. Robin held them for as long as possible, waiting until the enemy was too close to retreat, then gave the order.

"Now!"

Tomes flew open as the mages simultaneously erupted Bolganone spells, scorching the first lines of the approaching calvary with the sizzling lava. The Valmese advance was halted almost instantly, their troops thrown into disarray.

"Wind magic!" Robin called out, initiating the next phase of the attack.

With the command, the next row of mages began casting a storm of heavy winds against the wall of flames that still raged in front of them. The gale pushed the inferno inwards, engulfing the entire opposing army. The plan was brutal but was working brilliantly, effectively crippling almost all of Walhart's best soldiers. Their formations had broken, and now they were wildly charging forward not in attack but as a desperate attempt to escape the deathly fire. Soldiers under normal conditions likely would have surrendered immediately, however the Valmese still were attempting to break through the flames with the few ranks that still remained, likely out of the fear of their commander.

As the Bolganone spells died down slightly in intensity, the enemy army's staggered forces attempted to regroup for another attack. Mages attempted to keep the blaze going for as long as possible with streams of Arcfire; however it was clear that they were exhausting their strength.

"All units! Charge!" Chrom shouted, urging his men to break what remained of the weakened calvary. There was a mighty uproar as the Shepards' battle cries rang out in determination, and as one mass they rushed forward with frightening speed. Lucina caught a glimpse of Owain wildly darting through the battlefield, sticking close to Lissa but clearly enjoying the action, dancing his blade through the air like some frantic performance. Robin at least had kept his promise of the plan's success.

As she pushed her way forwards the front lines, she caught sight of a few of the enemy horsemen assuming a crude ramming formation, one designed to neglect any casualties for the sole purpose of achieving a suicide attack. Calculating their aim, Lucina found that they were focused on the forefront of the Shepards: kill the commander to destroy the army's organization and morale...

"Father!" Lucina cried in his direction, voice drowned out by the clamor in the air. "Watch out!" She desperately shoved her way through the crowd, mind flooding with visions of the worst.

Robin must have noticed, as she heard him call out to her father as well, much better than she at projecting his voice.

"Chrom! To your left!" he warned. "Donnel! Cover Chrom's flank!" he commanded the pot-headed boy, who jumped to Chrom's side immediately for defense.

Donnel? Why Donnel? Lucina couldn't believe what Robin was saying. He honestly expected a simple village boy to defend her father when his death would start a chain of calamities leading to her ruined future? Did he know what was at stake?

"Father! No!"

The calvary charged directly at Chrom, lances outstretched. The Shepards' mages and archers were picking them off steadily, but the attack force was unfazed by their rapidly increasing losses. She just had to get a little closer... Her father drew back his Falchion, and Donnel took up his own lance in an odd fighting stance that he probably fashioned himself. He can't be trusted to fight! Lucina wanted to scream at Robin and his ridiculous decision. How could he?

The Valmese were mere yards away and were closing fast. Donnel crouched down with knees bent, looking ready to spring up with a jump. Lucina burst from the crowd, desperately leaping in front of her father to serve as a human shield.

"Lucina! What are you doing?" her father incredulously shouted at her.

"Gyah! Milady!" Donnel cried out in his thick accent, forced to halt his attack midway in order to not strike her by mistake.

If she had arrived just in time, she realized too late that there were far too many men for her to fight at once alone. Clenching her teeth, she leapt at the cavaliers, attempting to hold her ground. She had no choice. She had to prevail, but there were so many...

Trying to focus on her foes one at a time was impossible, and just as she deflected an attack from one, a metal spear razed her lower torso from behind. A burst of pain engulfed her entire body as the cold metal effortlessly stabbed through her skin and deep into her side. It was over. She collapsed to the beaten ground, putting her hand over her wound in anguish. She immediately felt warm blood seeping from it, staining her tunic with a crimson pool. The agony was unbearable; she couldn't even scream, or cry, or do anything. Lucina felt herself slipping from consciousness, despite her best attempts at keeping her eyes open.

"No!" she vaguely heard Chrom cry out in rage, and she thought she saw his silhouette against the fire stand over her, violently assaulting the enemy horsemen with his sword to defend her crippled form. She couldn't hold on to reality any longer.

"Lucina!" Robin's terrified voice was fading, the uproar of the battle becoming a silent whisper as she drifted into her subconscious.

* * *

><p>Lucina awoke with a start, eyes wide with terror. She was lying in a bed, tucked under numerous blankets and inside a tent. She looked around, fearfully anticipating another Valmese soldier to leap out and strike her dead, but no such enemy appeared. It must have been a dream. A very, terrible nightmare. Lucina tried to lift herself upright, but she was thrown back down onto the mattress by a sudden, searing pain in her chest. She winced at the shock and slammed her mouth shut so she wouldn't cry out.<p>

"Whoa! Calm down, Lucina. You're safe here."

It was Robin's voice. She slowly turned her head towards her uninjured side and saw him sitting in chair by her bedside, examining her intensely and looking very relieved.

"Thank the gods you're okay. I'm going to have to thank Lissa later for doing such a good job with you," he let out a breath he had been holding. "You had me worried sick that you would...," he paused, unwilling to finish his sentence. He was... worried for her?

"What happened?" Lucina moaned, and found it laboring to breathe with her injury.

"You jumped right in front of Chrom and Donnel before they could react, and got stabbed in your side by a Valmese soldier," Robin told her. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have died! You almost died!" He scolded angrily, becoming very distressed.

A little taken aback by Robin's mood, she spoke weakly. "Had to... protect Father," she took small gasps of air with shallow breaths.

"But Donnel was right there. He was ready to attack," Robin reminded her.

"Couldn't trust... to save. Not... good... enough," she struggled with her aching chest.

"Lucina, you almost killed yourself because you didn't think Donnel could protect Chrom?" he asked in disbelief.

She nodded, and then remembered that it was Robin who put Donnel in charge of protecting her father in the first place.

"Why... did you... do that?" she asked in attempted outrage.

"Lucina...," Robin sighed deeply. "Donnel was the closest Shepard to Chrom that I trusted the most before you showed up."

"How... could you... trust... farm-boy... father's life?" she spoke incompletely, unable to express her anger at Robin without causing her bandaged wound to flare up again.

"Donnel was one of the very first Shepards that we recruited. He's been with us since before Gangrel declared war on Ylisse two years ago. Donnel was easily the most determined to prove himself _because_ he was farm-boy and most people thought he couldn't fight either. He has a parent that he's trying to protect too you know."

Lucina looked at him expectantly, anger still not quelled.

"He has a mother back in his village. We helped him drive away a gang of bandits that had seized his home and held his friends and mother hostage. He had every right to remain there after the bandits were dispelled," Robin continued. "But Donnel begged Chrom to take him with the Shepards because he realized that he had people who he wanted to protect too, and joining us would help make him stronger so he could carry out that goal. So in a sense, his motivations are just like yours."

"Sure he was inexperienced at first, got a couple more dents in his pot," Robin referenced Donnel's peculiar choice of headwear. "But his will to succeed quickly pushed him to the front lines because he kept trying and honing in on his unique talents. That's why I called Donnel to protect Chrom, because I knew he would do so to the best of his ability."

Lucina was surprised to hear about Donnel in such a positive light. She had no idea that a village boy who wore a cooking pot for a helmet had such intentions. There was still part of her that wanted to keep asking questions, but she was far too tired.

"It was actually Donnel who helped me get you back here," Robin stated, and when he noticed Lucina starting to look around again for someone else in the tent added, "He went back to the battlefield after we arrived."

"Back? Back... to the battlefield? You mean... the battle isn't over!?" Lucina's shock began to override the pains of trying to speak.

"Chrom and I agreed that after the calvary fell, we would have to raid the castle and defeat Walhart before he could muster up any more troops to counter us. They're preparing to fight as we speak."

"Now?!" Lucina shouted. "I have to go immediately!" She quickly swung herself upright in bed, masking the agony of doing so with determination.

"No, Lucina!" Robin growled angrily as he grabbed her shoulder and carefully but firmly pushed her back down into bed.

"Robin! What are you doing!? Let go of me!" Lucina tried to struggle against him, but with her wound found resistance to be a feeble effort.

"You're in no state to fight, Lucina! Let alone stand! You need rest!" Robin's grip held steady.

She felt helpless, both physically with her injury and due to the fact that she found it impossible to provide a reasonable counter argument. Already exhausted, she eventually ceased her struggling.

"But... but my father... The future...," she whimpered.

Robin's harsh glare softened slightly and he stopped pushing her back, yet kept a hand on her shoulder.

"Lucina, it's going to be all right. Chrom knows the plan, and I trust the Shepards to keep him and each other safe. All of them fight and would die for your father."

Every time Robin said something like that Lucina felt like she should believe him, even though her cautious instincts told her otherwise. Her father put his trust in all the Shepards as well, so maybe that's why they were loyal to him in return, Lucina pondered. Trust enabled the bonds between the Shepards to be strong, but trust was dangerous. If you put your trust the wrong person... Lucina pushed the thought out of her head for the time being.

"If you say so...," she sighed, succumbing to Robin's assurance.

Robin gave her a smiling nod, looking relieved that she wasn't trying to sit up again.

"Robin," she began to ask. "Why did you stay back here? Shouldn't you be in the castle directing our troops?" She just realized that the Ylissean army's master tactician was sitting around watching her in a medical tent and not on the battlefield. "They need you out there! What you doing here when the army needs your tactics?"

"Don't worry: they haven't actually entered the castle yet, and I'll be able to catch up with them before they do. Chrom knows the plan. I'm sure he's competent enough to strategize if I'm gone for a minute."

"But why are you _here_?" she asked again. He could be anywhere else but chose to be here. Lucina had a sneaking suspicion but couldn't possibly think that it was true.

"I was... nervous about you. I wanted to see for myself that you were okay," Robin turned his face so Lucina couldn't see his expression. "Oh! You meant... I'm sorry... I'll leave you alone. Forget I was here." Robin got up of his chair and hurriedly exited without another word, leaving Lucina dumbfounded.

"That's not what I...," she called out, but he was already gone. She _had_ said to leave her alone. Lucina felt even worse than when she had a few days before. He was worried for her and she made it seem like she didn't even care. She would have to apologize for that when she saw him next, she thought. Lucina sighed, feeling overwhelmed with the war in general as well as her relations with Robin. Maybe rest was in her best interest for now. She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. Those burdens could be put on hold until tomorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>Before anyone asks how Lucina recovered from near death (fairly) quickly, I figured that in a world with magic elixirs and healing staves people could heal faster than normal. Also in case it wasn't clear the Shepards haven't actually begun to attack the Valmese castle itself - they're just preparing for the attack outside. Robin wasn't planning on ditching them for such an important battle; he was just checking up on Lucina in camp on the outskirts of the field before meeting up with the rest of the army.<strong>

**Today marks the last day of winter break before I go back to school, so I won't have _as_ much time to work on this story as I did for the past two weeks. However, I do plan to keep updating with a new chapter at the latest every weekend unless something super important comes up, and hopefully before then.**

**Severa makes a significant appearance in the next chapter as a little spoiler for everyone! Stay tuned! **


	4. The Shared Secret

_In which the war in Valm ends and Lucina gets help from a friend._

* * *

><p>Chapter 4 – The Shared Secret<p>

It was over. The Valmese campaign had been exhausting and difficult, but true to their reputation the Shepards had managed to win the day and topple Walhart from his throne of conquest. Most of Valm applauded their victory, finally able to be free from Walhart's oppression. The Shepards were invited to multiple celebrations, most of which were turned down for the sake of time. Lucina actually felt fortunate: if she still didn't feel comfortable with the people around camp in an informal setting, gods know how she would feel at a lavish party.

The Ylissean and Feroxi armies were not without their own devastating losses though: Basilio was cut down by the Conqueror himself on the battlefield and Say'ri's brother Yen'fey was killed before his secret motives were revealed. Basilio's death in particular added one to the number of things Lucina felt guilty about. She could have tried harder to convince him not to fight to prevent him from encountering Walhart, but his stubborn pride drove him to battle. Emmeryn and now the West Khan had died in her future as well; it was only another reminder that her fate had not yet been changed.

On a better note, the Shepards were beginning to make their return trip home to Ylisse and Lucina's wound was healing very nicely, likely due to Lissa's devotion to her caretaking. "I can't have my niece all banged up, now can I?" was her reasoning.

Lucina had heard rumors that Robin was voluntarily helping more and more with the other patients so that Lissa had more time to tend to her. Whether or not these rumors were true Lucina could not say for sure, and she was far too embarrassed to ask Lissa whether that was the case. Lucina wanted to apologize for what she had said to Robin about leaving her alone, but even after she was able to move about again he was doing an excellent job at evading her, only allowing a brief greeting before disappearing somewhere. The places where she knew he would be, such as the mess tent around dinner, were always so filled with other people, and she couldn't possibly apologize for something that personal in front of everybody. She much preferred keeping to herself during the evenings, but the urge to speak with him again was beginning to change that opinion. Why did all of her decisions have to be so difficult?

Lucina slipped on her tunic, which Cherche had nimbly patched up for her after it was ripped by the lance, taking care to still be gentle near her side. She stepped out of her tent into commotion, the sounds of crates being piled up and arguments over how to organize things filling the air. The bustle served as an ever present reminder that most of the Shepards were hard at work packing up equipment in preparation for their trek overseas. Lucina figured that it would help take her mind off her mental conflict if she felt useful somewhere. The weapons arsenal seemed relatively inactive from afar, so she figured that she could put herself to work there.

As she made her way down the path, Lucina managed to bump into the person she most wanted to see and the worst possible person he could be with.

"Hello, Lucina," Chrom greeted her as he turned a corner and intercepted her, temporarily breaking away from a conversation with his tactician.

"Good morning," Robin smiled as if nothing was the matter between them, shifting the weight of the books he was holding to one hand so he could wave with the other. "Did you sleep well?"

"Y...yes, thank you," Lucina felt her cheeks growing warm as she gave a weak smile in his direction. Dear gods, she hoped her father wouldn't notice her blushing. If her father suspected that anything personal was occurring between his future daughter and best friend he would probably lose his mind. She would be worrying for her own life rather than his.

Robin turned back to Chrom quickly, dutifully obeying her previous request to stay out of her business, to continue planning for the trip and making sure everything was in order.

If Chrom suspected anything, he did not show any sign of it. Once they had passed, Lucina let out the breath she realized she had been holding. She made a point to hurry to her original destination, not wanting anyone to bump into anyone else she knew who would try and talk with her.

Finally reaching the arsenal, she ducked inside to hide herself from public view. Chrom fortunately was a little dense in reading subtle expressions, but Lucina feared that if other Shepards who were better in that field of expertise saw her blushing, they may become suspicious. If Nah had been with them, she would have caught Lucina instantly; it was impossible to try to hide something from her. Thankfully the manakete girl was nowhere to be seen, and was probably still sleeping in with her mother.

Lucina weaved in and out of the racks that held most of the Shepards' weapons, everything from swords to axes to even a few spare tomes. The arsenal seemed empty, which was surprising given the amount of activity outside. Lucina opened the lid of an empty crate and began to work, picking up stacks of tomes at a time and placing them neatly into the box. She spontaneously realized that she had never actually held a tome before, and curiosity begged her to reach back into the crate and take one back out to examine. Tomes just appeared to be old books, worn at the edges with slightly torn pages here and there, but just from holding one Lucina could practically feel the energy that they radiated. She gently opened the brown leather cover and slowly flipped through some of the pages. How tomes actually worked with all of their cryptic symbols and ancient writings she didn't fully understand, but their operation brought to mind a different question that she hadn't considered before: could only certain types of people do magic or could anyone use it with enough instruction and practice? The vision of Vaike holding a book instead of an axe in the middle of battle and trying to read it to cast a spell materialized in her head, and she smiled as she closed the cover of the tome. It definitely took special types of people to perform magic, she concluded as she placed the book back in the crate. Robin was one of those people.

Interrupting her thoughts, Lucina heard a faint mumble from the other side of the tent. It sounded like someone else was talking to themself, she assumed as she walked over to check the noise. Locating the source of the grumbling, she found Severa struggling to carry a heavy-looking crate.

"Severa? What are doing?" Lucina questioned, poking her head out from behind a row of lances.

"Gah!" Severa yelped in surprise, instantly dropping the crate, which hit the ground with a dull thud and kicked up a cloud of dust. "Lucina!" she shouted angrily once she realized who had interrupted her work. "What the heck are you doing sneaking up on me like that? Now you just made me drop this box full of weapons and someone is probably going to blame me for putting a dent in their stupid sword or something!" she scolded.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Lucina looked at her apologetically. "Here, I can get it."

She reached down to grab the crate before the other girl shooed her hands away.

"I can do it myself, thank you very much!" Severa looked peeved, trying to regain her composure.

"All of it?" Lucina asked. "Someone told you to do all of this by yourself?" She gestured towards the vast racks of various weapons in disbelief.

"Well...," Severa looked to the side. "Yarne and Brady were here too, but I told those two saps to go take a hike." Her long pigtails swished in the air as she turned to look at Lucina, who had her own eyebrow raised at Severa's attitude. Severa glared at her, then grunted in annoyance and took hold of the crate with both hands. Lucina just stood over the other girl as she tried to lift the box on her own again with little success.

After several failed attempts, Severa stopped and scowled.

"Geez, it wouldn't hurt to help someone in need every once and while, would it?"

Lucina sighed. Severa hadn't changed a bit. "Do you need some help, Severa?" she asked again exaggeratedly.

"Well, fine. If you're so insistent I guess I could humor you." Severa made it seem as if she didn't need assistance at all.

Lucina smiled at her friend's snarky temper as she bent down to take hold of one side of the crate while Severa took the other. Working together, they were able to package and move most of the inventory much quicker than if one person had done it alone. They worked in silence for the most part, but finally Severa admitted out loud.

"Thanks for helping, I guess. I probably couldn't have done it by myself now that

I think about it. Sorry for being mean."

"You don't have to do everything by yourself, Severa," Lucina assured. "We're all here for you." She was starting to sound a lot like someone she knew. Maybe it would help to talk about her situation, albeit vaguely, and get someone else's opinion if she couldn't come up with one of her own. She wouldn't dare tell her father, but she could trust Severa, couldn't she?"Severa...," Lucina slowly began to ask, delicately phrasing her question in her head. "You know a lot about... relationships, right?"

Severa whipped around, staring at her blankly as she confirmed in her mind that the words did indeed come from Lucina's mouth, and then she went wide-eyed. "No. Way. Who is it?" she asked at once, looking immediately intrigued.

"What? I didn't even say anything yet...," Lucina took a step back.

"You know who I mean! Your boyfriend!" Severa responded, then her face suddenly became very angry again as she came to another realization.

"Oh, come on!" the girl shouted at the sky, pouting all the while.

"Severa, what are you...,"

Severa pointed right at her, as if she was accusing her for some terrible crime. "Why do you always have to be _so_ perfect?! You're a princess, and you live in a gigantic castle, and you're really pretty, and you have great hair, and now you probably have a super cute boyfriend! Why can't I have _any_ of that?!"

"I don't have a boyfriend!" Lucina stammered in response to Severa's horde of accusations of being perfect. "And I'm not perfect either!"

"Humph," Severa grunted, looking more depressed than angry now.

"I'm sorry if I offended you...," Lucina cautiously apologized for reasons still unknown to her.

"No... That was me being selfish," Severa finally responded after taking a moment to recompose herself. "I didn't mean to yell..."Lucina forgot sometimes that Severa suffered from an inferiority complex by living in the shadow of her mother. She was starting to feel guilty even though she hadn't said anything before Severa spoke again, this time with much more confidence.

"But enough of about me! Tell me about your boyfriend!" she demanded eagerly.

"I told you, I don't have a boyfriend!"

"Trust me, Lucina. I know the look of a hopeless lover when I see one," she smirked at her for a second, then frowned slightly. "All too well I might add," she muttered. "My mother."

"I... I am not a hopeless lover!" Lucina was flustered by Severa's quick assumptions.

"Of course you are!" Severa said definitively. "Trust me. I know one when I see one, but I never thought YOU would be one," the other girl repeated, then leapt forward, getting right up close to Lucina with her hand on her chin. "Now tell me everything! Every mushy detail!" she begged.

"No! Nothing's happened! I just wanted some advice, that's all."

"Ooo! A secret romance!" Severa looked even more into the conversation than before. "This is so great, especially coming from you, Lucina! Just imagine, what would Chrom think?" she joked.

Lucina immediately went pale at the mention of her father, and was quick to reply, "No! Don't say anything to him! He mustn't get any false ideas!"

"Are you kidding?! I would never tell him! Not in a million years!" Severa looked shocked at the very aspect of revealing any information. "Secret romances are ALWAYS the best kind, and you can't just go around messing them up by telling anybody. As long as they're not one sided. Your mystery man likes you too then I hope?"

"I think so..., but I don't know what to think of it," Lucina looked away, embarrassed to even be talking about it. At least Severa didn't know who she was referring to. "And stop calling it a 'secret romance!' You're making me sound like some theater actor..., or Cynthia playing hero."

"The name isn't important, but that's what it is," Severa shrugged. "But that's good! That's real good! As long as you don't have your heart set on someone who will never love you ever and you're madly obsessing over him," her eyes narrowed. "But what you need? I'm an expert."

Why was she even talking about this? "I guess my first question would be, how do I know if he actually likes me or not? He hasn't said anything..."

Severa scratched her chin in contemplation. "Hmm, he hasn't told you anything explicit yet?"

Lucina shook her head.

"Then he's probably one of those shy types. They aren't that good at putting those kinds of feelings into words at first," Severa reasoned.

"Should I ask him?" Lucina questioned and was immediately shot down.

"No! Don't ask! Are you crazy? That will make him feel super awkward! You've got to wait it out for a little longer, but don't get me wrong. Sometimes the shy ones are the most direct when the time comes."

"But what if 'that time' never comes? What if I'm stuck not knowing forever?"

"Oh, it will come," Severa replied. "It always does in one way or another."

Lucina felt a little more reassured, but still sighed. "But what if I shouldn't really be with the person? What if it would never work out?"

Severa's tone grew more serious as she spoke. "You can't control who you really like, Lucina. Love's weird that way. I can't make a decision for you, but what I do know is that you can't suppress it forever. You'll go so crazy trying to not let anyone know that you'll forget why you even like the person in the first place."

"But I can't like anyone!" Lucina cried out feverishly. "I can't! My position doesn't allow it! We can't meddle with the past more than absolutely necessary!"

"Lucina!" Severa spoke sternly. "Don't worry about all of that!" she commanded.

"We're already here, so you have to embrace the fact that just by being in the past we're inevitably going to change the future in one way or another. We can never go back to the exact same future now. It's impossible."

"But...," Lucina began, before Severa cut her off.

"No buts or ifs, you! You said you wanted advice, so here's the best I can give you." She paused briefly for effect, noticing Lucina looking at her expectantly. "Don't lose your chance."

"...That's it?" Lucina questioned, expecting more.

"That's it," Severa confirmed. "I know you Lucina. I know that you have trouble managing what you say and what you really believe. Don't mess this up just because you say you can't," she commanded. "You're going to feel guilty forever if you miss your chance. Do what you feel." Severa was already making her way to the exit, leaving Lucina to consider what she had said. The girl paused as she pushed away the tent flap, looking back at Lucina with a grin. "By the way," she added. "When you decide to tell everyone, I'd better be the first to know!"

"How do you know I'll...," Lucina began to ask, but Severa was already gone.

Don't lose my chance, she repeated over in her mind. Maybe Severa was right. Is that really what she felt? Did she like Robin in that way? What if Robin actually didn't like her at all, if she was seeing things wrong and everything he was doing was as a friend and nothing more? Lucina did decide to take part of Severa's advice for now: she would have to wait a little longer before she could decide. Nothing was ever easy, but maybe just this once the answer to her question would fall into her lap soon enough.

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><p><strong>Next chapter, and before the weekend too! Maybe I'll be able to get another one up by then!<strong>

**I particularly enjoyed writing the speech for Severa here – she has a great personality to create dialogue with. From their supports, I get the feeling that Lucina and Severa are really good friends despite how perfect Severa thinks Lucina is. It seems like Severa looks up to Lucina like a little sister would almost.**

**Robin also can do magic, both literally and metaphorically apparently.**

**If there was one literary term to describe what this chapter does for the story, what would it be?**


	5. Epiphany

**Sweet, two chapters before the weekend is over! If you couldn't figure out what the word was that described last chapter, it was foreshadowing - all foreshadowing for this chapter! Sorry that Robin didn't get much screentime at all with two lines total of dialogue consisting of six words combined, but his appearance here should make up for that! Big things happen in this one, so mentally prepare yourself! **

_In which Lucina recalls her past as a young child and Robin sees into her mind_

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><p>Chapter 5 - Epiphany<p>

It was dinnertime.

Lucina could see shadows dancing in the quivering candlelight across the walls of the mess tent. As the setting sun slowly allowed tendrils of darkness to creep over the land, the glow from the tent in contrast appeared to strengthen with every passing minute. The heart of camp pulsed rhythmically with the flickering flames and embraced its surroundings with the light that penetrated the canvas. People were inside, probably having an enjoyable evening as they ate and talked amongst one another. They had all the reason to: there was no constant threat of an impending attack, and the return trip overseas to Ylisse was scheduled in three days.

Lucina had never felt the urge to join the others for dinner until she had begun to come to terms with her feelings after her conversation with Severa a few days ago. Now she could sense the light beckoning to her, trying calling her back from the solitude of the night, but she was too far away and its pull was still too weak. She was keeping watch from atop a small hill that the camp was nestled under, a safe vantage point to think without being seen.

Even without any imminent danger present, Lucina subconsciously found her gaze wandering to her father's tent. It was close to the center of camp, but other than that there was nothing special about it and was no bigger than any of the others in comparison. Chrom even refused to have any assigned, around-the-clock bodyguards, if Frederick didn't count of course, because he disliked the prospect of appearing superior to the rest of the army. When Lucina had asked him why, her father had said that he wanted every one of the Shepards to feel equal and comfortable around him so they would treat him as a friend rather than commander.

It was certainly an amicable action, but Lucina hoped he knew that he was still putting himself at risk. There had never been any problems before; however, Lucina's anxiousness clung to one crucial piece of information that she had yet to tell anyone. Her father had died in her future when she was only eight, and her last memory of him was when he had hugged her goodbye and when he had told her that if the Shepards prevailed in the coming battle, the conflict would finally be over and he could come home. A few days later, Lucina had been pretending to be the leader of her very own junior Shepards with a younger Cynthia and Owain when she had heard of the incident. The bright azure sky had turned progressively darker on that day with ominous clouds that would have signaled an approaching storm; her child-self paid them no mind, for she was having far too much fun fencing with wooden swords.

All of a sudden a group of nervous maids rushed out into the courtyard and seized each of them by the arms, pulling them inside the castle. She and her friends were herded into the main hall, where Lucina saw her mother with her back turned along with some of the other Shepards. She didn't understand why they were here, but nevertheless watched all of her heroes with silent wonder. Lucina wriggled free from the grip of the maid who had been holding her, and she ran over to Sumia and tugged on her skirt to get to attention.

"Mom, you're back!" she exclaimed excitedly, but when her mother turned around her smile slipped away. Sumia did not look anywhere near as happy, and her eyes were red as if she had been crying. She was holding the sheathed Falchion, Chrom's sword, in her arms.

"What's wrong, Mommy?" young Lucina asked in concern as she looked around. "Where's Daddy?"

"D...Daddy... isn't here right now, love," Sumia put on a forced smile as she reached down to stroke her hair.

"Where is he? Is he coming back?"

"...No... Your father is... gone," Sumia's voice was quivering as she spoke.

The news didn't register with her at first. She looked from side to side, each time more frantic than the next. Of all the pairs of eyes upon her, not one of them was her father's. Lucina started breathing hard as the reality of what her mother had said began to sink in. The people watching her who had once been her role models suddenly became very threatening to her. She panicked and ran, ran as fast as her little legs could take her. She thought she heard her mother call out to her, but she couldn't remember. Lucina didn't stop until she got to her room and slammed the door shut. Her room seemed impossibly large, and for the first time in her life she realized how small she really was. Lucina threw herself into her bed, wrapped the covers all around her, and cried. Her father was gone. Her father was gone forever and there was nothing she could do about it.

She stayed there under the warmth of the blankets for what seemed like an eternity to a child. No one came to bother her until she heard the faint voices of a few maids talking amongst each other as they walked past her door. Slipping out of the bed, Lucina put her ear up to the door and strained to hear what they were saying. They were already almost gone, but Lucina did hear one thing that horrified her: that her father was not cut down by an enemy, and instead was betrayed by a friend. One of the Shepards, whom her father trusted so much, had killed him.

The awful memory had never left her to this day; no matter how much she attempted to suppress it, the memory still raised its ugly head from time to time just to remind her that no one could be trusted. Lucina tried to tell herself numerous times that things could be different, but her judgment refused to allow it. Someone down there is her father's killer, she told herself as she looked again at the mess tent. She just couldn't imagine who.

Both the silence of the night as well as the silence of her thoughts was disturbed by something approaching her from behind. Her hand found Falchion's hilt, but as she turned her shoulder she was greeted by a familiar voice.

"Hello Lucina."

She squinted in the low light, and sure enough Robin was laboring his way up to the top of the hill with his hands behind his back.

"Robin! I didn't expect you to be here!" she exclaimed, thankful that it wasn't somebody else.

Robin was quick to give a disclaimer. "Listen, I've been trying to do what you said..., leaving you alone and all, and I'm sorry if it bothers you that I'm here, but I've been thinking, and there's something that I need to tell you."

"Wait, hold that thought!" Lucina blurted out, remembering what she had been trying to do for over a week. "About that, I have something that I've wanted to tell you too."

Robin stopped in his tracks, eying her nervously as if he was afraid of what he was about to hear.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry, about what I said. I've been trying to get you alone for days to let you know, but you were always with someone else so I wasn't able to. I didn't see how helpful and kind you were to me at first and I only responded by being selfish. I want you to know that I truly appreciate everything you've done for me, and I'm sorry for telling you to go away." With every word she spoke it felt as if a huge burden was slowly being lifted from her shoulders.

Robin's tense expression seemed to be lifted as well, and he let out a massive sigh as his mouth curved upwards into a smile. He was quiet for a moment before responding. "I can't begin to describe how much relief those words just brought me," he said at last. "It will make this so much less awkward... Here, I brought these for you." Robin removed his hands from behind him to reveal a small bouquet of flowers that he held out to her. "I found these growing by the side of the road, and I thought that they might cheer you up."

"F...for me?" Lucina stuttered as she reached out to gingerly take the bouquet from him. She held the flowers closer to her face so that she could see them clearer, slowly rolling the stems in between her fingers to make the petals rotate in small circles. The flowers were daisies, Lucina presumed, with symmetrical white petals and a bright yellow center. For a moment she was entranced by their purity as they span in her fingers before she was able to break away.

"Robin, these flowers are so beautiful... Nothing this lovely grew in my time," she commented as she looked up at him. His face appeared troubled, as if he had something else on his mind other than the flowers. "What are we celebrating? Is it a special occasion today?" Lucina asked.

"No, nothing like that," Robin replied distractedly as he turned to look down on camp. "I... just thought that they would make you happy, that's all."

"Well they make me very happy. Thank you," Lucina smiled in reassurance.

"That's good," Robin sighed in relief again.

Lucina looked at him in concern: he was behaving rather oddly. "Robin..., is everything okay? You don't seem yourself."

Robin was quiet, and he watched the shadows flicker from camp for a minute before responding. "Lucina, I've been thinking. Over these past few days, I've been thinking, searching for ways that I can help you." He turned back to her, and even in the low light Lucina could clearly see his eyes burning with a sudden intensity.

"...Help me?"

"Ever since I was with you in that medical tent and you told me why you jumped in front of your father, I haven't been able to stop trying to understand what you feel. You've gone through so much and put all these burdens upon yourself, and I knew that I could never help you through them if I didn't understand why you do the things you do. I was so lost at first; I was clawing to find something that just wasn't there in my knowledge. But then it hit me all at once," Robin spoke boldly and slowly took a few steps towards her. "I remembered when I had told you so many nights ago how I felt when Chrom first found me, and I think that it makes sense to me now." His eyes bore into her, seeing through them as if they were made of glass and looking deep into her soul. "You distrust every ally... because you feel alone."

"Robin..."

"How have you done it?" he asked desperately as his voice became more rapid. "You've taken a mission upon yourself that's larger than life, and to carry it out you had to leave that life that you knew and come here. You feel like a stranger in a world that isn't yours. Everything is different from what you knew."

Lucina couldn't believe what Robin was saying, not because it didn't make sense but because it was completely true. He was putting into words for her the feelings that she had experienced but never had been able to pin down ever since she came to the past. She didn't want to have to face the reality of them, but somehow knew it had to be done. Her lip started to quiver, and for the first time she wasn't able to stop it.

_Don't cry, Lucina._

"You don't want anyone close to you because you don't want to lose them like how you lost everything in your future: your home, your parents, your happy memories..."

_Don't cry._

"And now that you have all of those things back, you don't know what to do. The very idea of losing your life all over again is stopping you from living it." Robin continued to advance on her, face mixed with pity and sadness. "All the time... you're terrified..."

_Don't..._

Robin's final conviction wrung a single tear from her eye, the one that bore the Brand of the Exalt, and it slowly rolled down her warm cheek. After the first came another, then so many that her vision became blurred. "It's...so hard...," she choked, trying to hide her face but failing miserably. "...I'm scared...," she whispered before breaking out into sobs.

Lucina immediately felt Robin seize her and pull her into a tight embrace. She didn't care about interfering with the past at the moment. She needed human comfort right now, which she found crying in Robin's arms. Robin said nothing, but she didn't need him to. All she needed was for him to be here and to not let go of her.

"You don't have to be alone anymore, Lucina," he whispered softly. "Just know in your heart that I'm here for you, no matter what. And I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to make your world a better place, so I hope you don't mind me doing this."

He took hold of both her arms and separated her from him, holding her away. Lucina opened her teary eyes and for a brief second met his before Robin leaned down and pressed his lips gently against hers. Lucina's eyes went wide, then she squeezed them shut again as she could think of no way to respond but to kiss him back. Robin filled her with a hope that she never knew even had existed, one that she felt would give her the strength to break free from the fear that had controlled her for so long. She needed him now; it was something that she had felt deep down in her heart and now knew with certainty to be true.

As soon as Robin pulled away, she buried her face in his chest again. "Robin..., thank you... For everything...," her voice was muffled by Robin's coat, which still had that tea stain. "You were the only person who ever cared to help me, and I didn't see that until now." Lucina pulled her face up to look straight at him with a smile wider than she would have ever thought possible. "I'm... I'm just so happy!" she exclaimed.

"You don't know how happy I am to find out that you feel the same way!" Robin grinned as he reached down with one hand to brush the tears from Lucina's cheeks. "If you ever feel scared or lonely again, know I'll be there with you every step of the way," he soothed. "So no more tears, okay? You have such a beautiful smile."

Lucina couldn't find any more words to say how she felt, so the least she could do was to heed his request and keep smiling.

"That's what I like to see!" Robin laughed and took hold of her hands, holding them close to him as he interlaced his fingers with hers. Lucina squeezed his hand back, and looked with him away from camp. Away from the war and towards the horizon, where her future felt more like a thing of the past then it ever had been.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay, happy chapter! It was meant to be based loosely off their S-support (without them getting married at the end of course) because I thought Robin giving Lucina flowers was cute. I felt like the story needed to go somewhere important without turning into complete fluff, thus this chapter was born. The whole scene was designed to be a heat-of-the-moment type thing where Robin decides to man up and Lucina is already on an emotional precipice from her backstory all at once in case you were thinking that it was a little sudden. O<strong>****n a slightly different note you got some adorable little kid Lucina in there, which is always good. Also, j**ust saying "I love you" as the climax of the big scene has become quite cliché by this point I think, so that's why neither one of them actually says it – they say it in a different way.  
><strong>

**But does this mean that just because they kissed that everyone is going to be in a state of perpetual bliss, the emotional drama will end, Robin and Lucina can be together forever, and the story is almost over? No, no, no, and no - it's only just getting started, so don't you worry (unless that's actually what you were hoping for so in that case I'm sorry)! They haven't even gone to Plegia yet heh heh... Next chapter will likely be another happy one before we hit more drama!  
><strong>


	6. Perfect Imperfections

**Disclaimer: Reading the following chapter is fluffier than eating cotton candy on a bed of warm blankets, so be warned. As promised, here's the other happy chapter! This one is twice the length of the others without these beginning/end notes, so you get a lot to read for today!**

_In which the Shepards get a day off and Robin takes Lucina out on a date_

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><p>Chapter 6 – Perfect Imperfections<p>

"Father? Where is everybody?" Lucina asked, wiping a thin film of sweat from her forehead. She had decided to take a quick break from her training regimen only to find the entire camp almost devoid of activity. It seemed like a ghost town compared to the nonstop commotion of the past few days. "We leave for Ylisse tomorrow and no one seems to be around."

Chrom looked up from the post-war documents he was reading in his tent and replied, "Probably in the city nearby. I gave the Shepards a day off today. They all earned it, that's for sure. Didn't you hear when I told everyone?"

"I was at the training grounds this morning. I must have missed it..."

Her father tossed his papers haphazardly on the desk and leaned back in his chair. "Honestly, Lucina... You don't have to work every minute of your life," he sighed. "Go out and enjoy yourself for once! Take that as an order from your father!" Chrom pointed outside the tent dramatically as a gesture for her to leave.

Lucina gave a small laugh. "But Father, I don't have anything else to do."

"Gods, I have one daughter who I have to tell to _stop_ getting excited over something and now I have one who I have to tell the opposite. You don't need to start training again as soon as we win a war, Lucina," Chrom grinned. "Now go. Have a nice time somewhere!"

"Okay, Father," Lucina smiled, turning away from her father to leave. Before she even began to walk away, Chrom poked his head out the tent flap.

"I'm serious, Lucina," he added. "I'm going to check up on the training grounds in a little while, and I'd better not find you there."

"I'll just find another place to practice," Lucina joked.

Chrom just rolled his eyes and retreated back inside the tent, leaving Lucina to wonder what to do for the rest of the day. She wasn't used to having a few hours to herself, and she wasn't sure about where to start until she bumped into someone while turning a corner through the camp.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Robin's cheery voice found her ear.

"You have?" She couldn't help but blush as she saw Robin running over to her. Just the thought that he was looking for her made Lucina innately happy. Ever since they had kissed a night ago every little gesture Robin gave her from a smile to a wave immediately put her into a better mood.

"Of course I have! Since we have the day off, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go somewhere with me," Robin told her.

"I would love to," Lucina smiled as she folded her hands behind her back. She couldn't believe that her first thought hadn't been to find Robin as well. "But where should we go?"

"I figured we could do some shopping; there's this very particular text I've been searching for that one of the booksellers in town may have if I'm lucky, and I got word from a reliable source that you particularly enjoy clothes shopping."

"Reliable source?" Lucina raised an eyebrow before realizing the answer was obvious. "My mother."

"The one and only," Robin confirmed. "You might want to change out of your armor before we leave though," he told her, and then hurriedly added, "Not that what you're wearing doesn't look good on you or anything! I just don't want to attract too much celebratory attention from all the Valmese, that's all. I know my coat would probably give me away as soon as I stepped foot within the town borders."

"Don't worry, I understand," Lucina laughed. It was sweet of him to worry about offending her even when he didn't mean to.

"Perfect," he sighed as if he had just avoided a terrible disaster. "I have to change as well. Meet me by my tent when you're ready, okay?"

Lucina gave a small nod and excitedly rushed off to her own tent to change. She immediately went to work unstrapping her shoulder-plates and removing her gloves before slipping out of her cape, all of which she tossed into a disorganized heap onto her bed. Her fingers hesitated when she reached for the sheath strapped to her hip. She would have to leave Falchion behind if she didn't want to be recognized instantaneously by the townspeople, but Chrom's last memento rarely left her sight. Lucina would never admit it to him, but besides the blade being her weapon of choice it held equal importance as a comfort object of sorts. As long as she had it near her it felt as if her father was always at her side, even when he wasn't around. But she had Robin with her, didn't she? Methodically she unbuckled and untied the sheath, taking care to wrap it up in a small bundle before placing it into the small chest that held her belongings. She felt vulnerable, exposed even, without her armor on. As long as Robin stayed close though she felt confident that she could bear being without it for a little while.

Despite shopping for clothes being one of her guilty pleasures, Lucina had very little to choose from. A full wardrobe would only be more for the convoy to carry, so she kept her clothes choices to a bare minimum with functionality as the main objective. A little disappointed now that she didn't have anything special to change into, Lucina decided to keep what remained of her outfit intact as she reached up to groom her hair. As she attempted to make her hair look somewhat presentable, her hands found her headband. It might give her away, but it did manage to hold some of her hair back, so it was one thing she decided to keep.

_This is ridiculous_, she scolded herself. _You're just going out shopping and you're pampering yourself up like a princess._

She realized her analogy didn't quite work given that she technically _was _a princess, but she dismissed the thought. Lucina never felt like a princess anyway, so what was the point of dwelling on it too much? Deciding that she was relatively ready to go even though her hair was probably still a mess, she exited her tent to find Robin's.

Robin was already outside waiting for her when she arrived. Like he had implied, he had removed his coat in favor of the sleeveless undershirt he wore underneath. She hadn't been able to tell underneath the coat, but with it off she was surprised with how well he was physically built. The thought skipped her mind initially, but Lucina realized that fighting in the war would inevitably help one's fitness.

_Stop it! That's weird to think about!_ Lucina had never been distracted by someone's appearance before, but for the first time she realized that Robin was rather attractive. _Stop..._ She futilely attempted to banish the thought but couldn't help it.

"Sorry that I couldn't find anything else to change into...," Lucina apologized as she approached him.

"Hey, I don't look all too different either," Robin grinned. "You look cute though."

Lucina felt her cheeks turning warm at his comment. He had never called her that before. "You don't look all too bad yourself."

Robin laughed and motioned with his hand. "Come on, town isn't that far away. Maybe half hours walk at most."

"Right," Lucina acknowledged and hurried next to him so they could walk side by side. As soon as they were out of view of the camp, Lucina tentatively put her left hand out and tucked it underneath Robin's right. He was the one who was blushing now as he closed his hand around hers. The walk to town didn't seem long at all; it went by much too fast.

* * *

><p>It was hard for anyone not to fall into a good mood in town. Free to live without fear, the townspeople spread a contagious elation to all they greeted. Shops belonging to traveling merchants had opened up all along the town square and had brought a torrent of activity. Children played on street corners and watched performers in the square. Taking a glimpse at some of the dancers, Lucina couldn't help but wonder whether Olivia and Inigo were putting on an act of their own anywhere in town. Despite their bashfulness they both became remarkably confident when they danced for an audience; it was as if dancing lifted weights off their shoulders for a short time and transformed them into different people. Ordinarily the crowd would have put Lucina on edge, but apparently the vibrant atmosphere was rubbing off on her as well.<p>

"Is there anything you want to do first?" Robin had to raise his voice over the clamor to ask. He shuffled a little bit closer to Lucina so he wouldn't lose her amongst all the other people.

There were so many shops selling everything from pet birds to baked goods that Lucina had no idea of where to begin. The first thing that came to her mind was what Robin had told her earlier that he was looking for.

"Why don't we search for that text you wanted?" she suggested. "It looks like there's a store that sells books on the other side of the street." Lucina tried pointing out the building she was referring to, but could barely stick her arm out in front of her without bumping into someone.

"That sounds like a good idea. We'll be able to get out of this crowd for a bit too."

With a bit of tactical maneuvering they were able to reach the store quite quickly for the number of people that blocked their path. Apparently Robin was as good at strategizing how to weave through a crowd as he was with mobilizing troops. A pleasant chime rang out as Robin opened the door, and once inside Lucina immediately caught the distinct smell of old books. The bookstore was small so therefore relatively empty, and had that ancient look to it that if one were to disturb anything the very action would kick up a massive cloud of dust. Lucina could see Robin's eyes lighting up; this was probably the kind of place he could spend hours in, flipping through all the books he could get his hands on.

"Do you need anything?" spoke a quiet but sweet voice from the silence.

Lucina jumped in surprise, instinctively reaching for Falchion's hilt but had to remind herself wasn't there. A petite old woman that Lucina hadn't noticed when she walked in seemed to materialize behind the counter to their right. She was wearing simple clothing and had thin-rimmed spectacles that magnified her pale eyes. Robin seemed just as startled as she was, but quickly recollected himself.

"Yes, actually. I'm looking for a very particular strategy book."

"Strategy? As in war?" the woman asked contemplatively.

"Would you have anything like that?" Robin inquired.

"I should have a few towards the back wall. They're very old though," she gestured with a wrinkly hand.

"Thank you," Robin replied graciously and began to wander in the general direction of where the woman was pointing.

"Take all the time you need." She gave a small sigh before shifting her attention towards Lucina. "And what about you? Looking for anything specific?"

"No thank you. I'm with him," Lucina suddenly felt a little anxious at being put on the spot.

"Suit yourself. If you need anything, just ask," the woman responded as she adjusted her glasses, holding up a book she was reading for herself.

Eager to escape the shopkeeper's line of sight, Lucina ducked behind a shelf and absentmindedly scanned through titles of books she saw as she walked by. Pausing out of curiosity in front of a fiction section, Lucina pulled what appeared to be a romance novel from the shelf. _This looks like the kind of thing my mother would read_, Lucina assumed as she flipped to an unspecific page and read a few paragraphs. The novel was rather poorly-written and one of the sappiest things Lucina had ever laid eyes on, but even so she found herself flipping through page after page. In the story, a valiant prince with his princess by his side was journeying all over the land on horseback. There was one scene Lucina read in which the two visited a grand city and seemed to be having a wonderful time in each other's company. Lucina smiled at the coincidence. _If the book had any truth at all, maybe she was more like a princess than she thought_.

"I didn't know you enjoyed romantic novels."

Lucina slammed the book shut and turned around to find Robin standing right over her shoulder. "No, I don't read... How long have you been standing there?" She couldn't believe she had let herself get caught reading it.

"Only for a minute," Robin admitted, holding up a book that could have easily been a hundred years old. "I found the book I wanted, so I came to find you. You seemed so engrossed in that book though that I didn't want to interrupt."

"That's embarrassing...," Lucina sighed, returning the book back into its place among the others.

"Don't be embarrassed about it! Everyone has things that they like to read some time or another," he reassured, reaching to pull the book from the shelf. "Are you sure you don't want to get this?"

"No, I'm positive!" she hurriedly responded, wanting to separate herself from the book as much as possible.

"If you say so..." Robin put the book back again, still not looking entirely sure with Lucina's decision. "I'll just buy this real quick and then we can go somewhere else. Do you want to wait outside to search for another store to go to?"

"I suppose." Lucina exited the store while Robin negotiated a price with the old shopkeeper. She had to stand on the tips of her toes to see over the crowd, and amid the surge of people her eye caught a stand that looked like it was selling dresses. The second Robin stepped out of the store, Lucina seized him by the arm like an excited child. "Robin, we have to go there!"

He barely had time to ask "Go where?" before Lucina started dragging him down the street, pushing people out of her way to reach the stand. "Robin! Look at this!" she squealed in happiness as soon as they arrived. Lucina took a bright green dress with purple stripes running down it off a hanger and held it out to him. "Isn't this just adorable? What do you think?"

Robin took one look at the dress and winced. "Um..., it's very... colorful, and a little hard to look at..."

The smile ran away from Lucina's face as she judged Robin's reaction. "It isn't that good, isn't it?" she realized disappointedly. "Oh, you hate it! I guess I don't have a good fashion sense after all..."

"Your fashion sense is... unique to say the least," Robin admitted, making an attempt to carefully phrase his words as to not hurt her feelings. "But maybe we can find another dress that's more _you_."

"Ok...," Lucina reluctantly hung the neon dress back on its hanger.

"I guess I can't say that I'm a professional regarding women's fashion either," Robin murmured as he began to flip through a group of hanging dresses. He tentatively held up a long maroon dress. "Would this one work?"

"I don't think red would go along well with my hair," Lucina replied before returning to her own search.

"Your sense of style must be better than mine if that makes you feel any better," Robin chuckled, putting the dress back.

"Tone down the vibrant factor," Lucina spoke under her breath to remind herself to put back anything she picked out that was too colorful. "Tone it down..." She moved from row to row of outfits, unable to find anything until her eye fell on a particular dress that hung at the end of one of the racks. Lucina pulled it out, holding it with outstretched hands so she should see it better. The dress was pure white with a decorative belt on the waist, and stretched down to her knees in length. It was simple and had nothing particularly special about it, but the dress charmed her nonetheless.

"Robin...," she called out, weaving through rows of clothes to eventually find him still intensely searching. "How does this one look?" she asked hesitantly as she held the dress over her, fearful that he would react like he had to the other one.

Robin glanced over his shoulder. "...I actually really like that one. It's a very pretty dress," he said with a smile, then returned the few dresses that he personally had picked out back to the racks. "I think we have our winner!"

"Did I just hear someone say they found something they liked?" an eager voice shrilled. All of a sudden, Anna leapt out from behind her stand and rushed over to them.

"Anna? What are you doing..., oh right, you're one of Anna's other sisters."

"That's right!" Anna put her finger on her chin in her trademark pose. "As long as you're referring to my sister Anna rather than my other sisters Anna or Anna. You also may have met Anna - she's over there selling hair accessories." All of the Annas were sisters and looked identical to one another, so it was impossible to tell them apart.

"Right, anyways..." Robin shifted the subject. "We were thinking of getting this dress. Do you have a place where she could try it on?"

"Oh, of course!" Anna giggled. "Excellent selection by the way. The customer is always right! That's what I say!"

"Yeah...," Robin looked unsure of how to respond. "So, where can she change?"

"Changing tent's right over here behind my stand," Anna pointed, motioning to them to follow her.

"Thank you. You don't mind trying it on, do you Lucina?"

"I'm excited to," Lucina assured, and she followed Anna and Robin with the dress in tow.

"Right in here!" Anna opened the flap to the tent, allowing Lucina to step inside before closing it. "I'll leave you two to your privacy for moment," she whispered to Robin before darting off to greet another unsuspecting customer.

The tent was rather small on the inside, so it took Lucina a while to wriggle out of her clothes and into the dress without causing the whole tent to collapse in on her. Her boots didn't quite fit with the dress, so she couldn't think of any other option but to go barefoot for the moment. She glanced at the mirror in the corner of the tent when she was finished. Lucina didn't recognize the person she saw looking back at her. The girl in the mirror was elegant and happy, with a radiant smile and rosy cheeks. Her azure blue hair fell in drapes over her bare shoulders, and the dress she wore flowed perfectly with her body. Lucina put a hand over her chest in wonder, and the reflected girl did so as well. Was that really her? She looked so different than the Lucina she knew. She parted with the other girl, poking the tent flap open just a little bit.

"Robin? I'm coming out," she said in a small voice.

"I'm waiting out here," Robin called back, sounding eager to see her.

Lucina took a deep breath, and then slipped out of the tent into the open. If removing Falchion from her side made her feel exposed, wearing the dress doubled that experience. The air gently touched the skin that the dress revealed for the first time. She felt embarrassed that her arms and shoulders still bore faint cuts and scabs from numerous battles. It didn't seem proper to show.

"This is me," Lucina's voice quivered as she held her both her arms by her sides with palms open. "Do I... look okay?"

Robin froze where he stood with his mouth held ever so slightly agape. He didn't speak for a moment, then whispered, "You... you look beautiful..."

"Does the dress... make up for the rest of me?"

"I wasn't talking about the dress," Robin's awed voice spoke slowly. "I mean, the dress is amazing, but you... You're more stunning than I ever could have imagined."

Lucina's cheeks blazed pink. "I'm sorry that my skin is so displeasing to look at..." She felt a tear well up in her eye as she ran through a mental list of imperfections.

"...Your skin?" Robin asked in confusion as he walked towards her and put both his hands on her shoulders. Her bruised body shivered with his direct touch. "Lucina, I don't care about that. You couldn't be more perfect to me," Robin told her, then leaned down and kissed her on her forehead. "I love you."

Hearing the words flow out of Robin's mouth made Lucina forget why she was sad, and replaced that feeling with joy. "I love you too."

"Now let's buy you this dress, shall we?" Robin playfully tapped her on the nose with one finger.

"Yes, let's," Lucina laughed. She darted back inside the tent and removed the dress so she could change back into her regular clothes. When she emerged cradling the dress in her hands, Robin was already at the counter talking with Anna. Even from a short distance, she could tell that he didn't look happy.

"It's _how_ much?!" Lucina heard him ask Anna incredulously.

"You heard me," Anna folded her arms and pouted. "That particular dress was imported from a distant land and is made of incredibly high quality materials."

"It couldn't possibly cost that much!"

"What's the matter?" Lucina asked when she got closer.

"Lucina, you aren't going to believe how much she wants for that dress!" When Robin told her the exact price, Lucina almost dropped the dress onto the street in shock. How was Anna even letting her touch something worth so much?

"That's... that's expensive!" was all she could manage.

"Anna, we have to work something out. That price is insane!"

"Nope. The price is final," Anna declared, cutting Robin short.

"But...," Robin began to argue again, but Lucina touched his arm.

"Robin, this dress is much too expensive. I really don't need it right now - maybe next time if we ever come back," she told him, handing the dress back to Anna.

"But you love that dress! We came all the way to town so we could look for one for you!

"We can't afford it right now, but that's okay. Maybe we can find something else at another shop."

"Lucina..."

"It's okay, Robin. It's only a dress."

"...If you say so...," Robin reluctantly agreed as he stepped away from the counter, shooting Anna a dirty look before turning back to Lucina.

"We can go look somewhere else!" Lucina assured him, taking Robin's hand and leading him away from the stand and back into the crowd. "How about over there?" she asked, pointing out another shop that was selling clothes. Robin didn't seem all too enthusiastic, but allowed Lucina to bring him.

Lucina didn't realize how upset that the ordeal had made Robin. She would have to search for something else that she liked to take his mind off of it soon. Lucina was shoving through the hordes of people in an attempt to reach the clothing store faster when Robin suddenly uttered a sharp cry of pain and let go of her hand. She turned around to find Robin hunched over on the ground, clutching his head in both his hands and looking very pale.

"Robin! What happened!" she shouted in panic, kneeling to get to eye level with him. "Did someone stab you?! Are you hurt?!" Robin couldn't speak; his teeth were clenched tightly and he couldn't open his mouth.

"Medic! I need a medic!" Lucina called out desperately to the crowd before Robin clutched her arm.

"I'm... I'm fine...," Robin gasped. His breathing was still labored, but he didn't look as sickly as he had a few seconds ago. "It's just... just a bad headache. I've been getting them... a lot."

"Robin, that wasn't just an ordinary headache! You scared me half to death! I thought you were going to die!"

"I can't control them... I'm sorry..."

"Can I get you anything?" Lucina asked out of nervousness, scanning her immediate surroundings for anything that could be of assistance. "Maybe you just need some sugar," she suggested, viewing a tiny bakery on the side of the street. "Here, let's get you out of this crowd. Can you walk if I help you?"

"I think so...," Robin said, uneasily getting up on two feet using Lucina's shoulder as a crutch. Lucina led him a side street just to the side of the bakery and sat him down on a low stone wall to rest. She then hurried inside and purchased two cupcakes before returning. Sitting down next to Robin, Lucina handed him one. "Here, try to eat this. Maybe the sugar will perk you up," she informed him.

Robin graciously accepted the food and took a few small bites. Lucina couldn't think about eating her own until she was sure he looked well enough. His face was flushed with color like normal again, and he didn't seem to be in pain anymore. "I feel much better now. Thank you, Lucina."

"That's a relief," Lucina sighed and finally took a bite of her own cupcake. "These taste quite good, don't you think?"

"They're very delicious," Robin agreed, then suddenly jumped up off the wall and placed his cupcake down where he was sitting.

"Hold that thought. I'll be right back. I think I left my book that I bought back at Anna's stand. Save my cupcake for me," he told her as he began to walk back from whence they had come.

"Ah, wait! Are you sure you're okay to be walking by yourself so soon?" Lucina worriedly asked.

"I'll be okay now. I promise I'll return before you know it!" Robin reassured as he vanished into the crowd. Honestly, for someone who was so concerned for other peoples' safety Robin seemed content with risking his own. She didn't feel like eating again, so she simply sat on the wall and kicked the empty air. After a much longer time than she expected, Robin returned not with his book but with a thin rectangular box in his hands.

"What's that, Robin? Where's your book?" she asked him confusedly.

Robin scratched the back of his head with one hand, looking slightly ashamed. "About that... What I said wasn't exactly true - I still have my book. This is for you." He held the box out to her for her to take.

Lucina feared that she knew what the box contained, but he seemed insistent. She gingerly opened the lid to find the very same white dress that she had worn nestled inside.

"Oh Robin, how could you? How on earth did you pay for this?" Lucina gasped.

"You don't think Chrom doesn't pay me a little something for being his chief tactician, do you?" he grinned. "I rarely ever spend it, so I just remembered that I had a lot saved up for something special."

"Robin! Please return this! This must have cost you everything you had!" Lucina exclaimed, closing the box and trying to hand it back to him.

Robin pushed it away back to her. "A lot, but not _everything_."

"I need to get you something then! What do you want? I'll buy you anything!" Lucina hurriedly took out the little pouch of gold she carried with her.

"Calm down, Lucina. When you wore that dress I saw how happy it made you, and that made me happy too. I don't need anything else," he smiled, sitting back down on the wall next to her.

Lucina didn't know what to do. She couldn't possibly accept this gift without giving him something in return. Anything. She pondered for a moment, and even though it wasn't near worth as much as the dress, it was the only thing she could think of. "Robin, I think you have some icing on your lip."

"I do? That's embarra...," he stopped as Lucina reached over and kissed him.

"I got it," Lucina smiled, making him laugh.

"Twice in one day. I'm a lucky man!" he sighed.

Lucina opened the box again and touched the soft fabric of the dress. "Did I tell you that I love you?"

"I don't remember. Maybe you could remind me again."

* * *

><p><strong>I told you it was really fluffy... Lucina must be in a <em>really <em>good mood today for her to feel confident enough to initiate a kiss! Bear with me if fluff isn't your thing - this is the most you'll get for quite some time! Next chapter is Plegia, kingdom of drama.**

**What do you think? A suitable chapter for a first date? If you didn't realize it immediately or wanted to know what it looks like, the dress that Lucina gets is the same one that she wears on the cover art for the official soundtrack of the game!**

**Also, I want to give a big shout out to ****RandomificationChaotic, who generously offered to help me edit this story to fix any errors and make the story flow better! Thanks so much!**


	7. To Every End A Beginning

**Okay, I kind of lied. They don't actually go to Plegia in this chapter yet. This one is a transition from Valm to the Ylissean continent instead. I felt like there needed to be _one_ more character and relationship growth chapter before important things actually happen. This chapter is a whole bunch of little scenes including overprotective Robin and everyone's favorite swellsword - enjoy! **

_In which Lucina goes to dinner and the Shepherds receive a foreboding invitation._

* * *

><p>Chapter 7 – To Every End A Beginning<p>

The following day, the Shepherds made their final preparations for departure from the Valmese continent, disassembling what remained of the camp so it could be packed away. As they marched to port, the army was greeted by applause and cheer from hundreds of townspeople; Valmese of young and old had come to see the Shepherds on their way.

"I cannot thank you and Ylisse enough, good prince," Say'ri gave a short bow to Chrom as the Shepards boarded the ship that was to bring them home.

"You're most welcome," Chrom smiled and attempted a bow of his own in to mimic her courtesy. "I'm leaving the rebuilding of the continent to you if you think you can manage."

Say'ri's eyes flashed with confidence. "I assure you, sir. I will stop at nothing to return my country of Chon'sin to its former glory and bring lasting peace to Valm."

Chrom laughed and replied, "I'm sure you'll have it under control. If you ever need anything else, don't hesitate to call on us for assistance. We would be happy to help."

"Fie, prince! It is us who should be extending that offer to you. My people and I will be forever in your debt. Should Ylisse find herself in trouble, only Chon'sin's bravest warriors will come to her aid."

"I won't forget, I assure you. Until another day." Chrom told her before departing up the gangplank to the ship's deck.

"Farewell, my friends!" Say'ri waved to the Shepherds as the ship crawled out of port and into the vast expanse of the sea. "May the winds of fortune guide your sails safely home!"

* * *

><p>Lucina knelt on the wooden floor and reached into the chest by her bedside. She brushed her nightclothes aside to expose the small box she had placed underneath. Carefully she removed it from its hiding place and opened the lid to steal a glimpse of her new dress. It was still just as perfect as she had left it from the previous day. She didn't dare take it out to wear it despite how much she wanted to; people surely would notice and figure out who had bought it for her. Even looking at the dress seemed like a forbidden act, but it was this risk of being discovered that gave her all the more thrill whenever she didn't get caught. Lucina knew it was foolish to think that way, but the dress made her happy and reminded her of the time she shared with Robin. Smiling at the memory, she gently closed the box again and placed it back into the chest, being sure to cover it up with her other clothes just in case.<p>

"Knock knock, I'm coming in."

Lucina slammed the chest shut in surprise and turned around to find Robin standing in the doorway.

"Robin, what are you up to this evening?" Lucina asked him as she stood up.

"Well," Robin began as he strolled into Lucina's cabin. "As you probably know it's that time of the night again, but today I came to bring you to dinner with me."

"Dinner? Is it that time already?" It seemed like they had just boarded the ship a few minutes ago. She must have taken longer to organize her belongings than she thought.

"Sure is. Come on!" Robin took Lucina by the wrist and started to walk out, but she didn't budge from where she stood.

"Robin... You know how I am with these sorts of things..." She hesitated, pulling back on Robin's hand.

"I know," Robin sighed softly. "But could you please come just this once? Everyone there is our friend. You'll enjoy yourself." He saw Lucina was still hesitant, so added, "For me?"

That got her. How could she say no to that smile?

"Maybe... if it's only this one time..."

"Great! Let's go!" he tried to pull her out of the room again.

"But wait! If we go in together, my father might notice!" Lucina told him in concern, wanting to take all precautionary measures she could against Chrom finding out about their relationship.

Robin paused to think for a moment. "How about I enter first, then you go in a few minutes afterword. I'll save you a seat."

"That sounds like a good strategy," Lucina considered the option.

"Strategy is my job! I'd hope I'm good at it!" Robin laughed and let go of Lucina's arm. "I'll go there now. See you in a few minutes," he told her as he stepped out of the cabin and into the hallway. Before he was out the door he paused and turned around. "You're definitely coming, right?"

Lucina grinned. "Yes, I'm coming," she sighed.

"Just making sure," Robin excitedly informed her before disappearing down the hallway.

She would be fine, wouldn't she? Robin was right: even if it wasn't that well, she knew everyone there. She didn't have to get so anxious over going. Besides, he was saving her a seat.

* * *

><p>He didn't have a seat for her. People already surrounded Robin's table and left no empty seats. Lucina looked at him with budding panic in her eyes. Where would she possibly go? She had only come because he had wanted her to. Robin met her gaze with guilt written all over his face. He made a quick head gesture towards Sumia, as if silently trying to tell her that she took the seat he was trying to hold. Lucina couldn't possibly ask for her mother of all people to get up and move so she could sit next to Robin. Looking around the room, she couldn't find any two empty seats side by side, nor did she think she could leave now that she had shown up. She turned back to Robin briefly; who now looked as if he was trying to send her a telepathic "I'm sorry," before she began searching for somewhere else to sit.<p>

After wandering around the room numerous times, she still could only find one open seat at the end of a table; it was next to Stahl and across from Gregor. She hardly knew either of them well, but she had no other option at the moment. Lucina awkwardly sat down as soon as the two both erupted into laughter from something Gregor had said. They still hadn't noticed her arrive until she gave a weak greeting.

"H... hello."

"Hmm?" Stahl wiped a tear from his eye from laughing so hard, and was surprised to find Lucina of all people sitting next to him. "Oh, hello Lucina. I didn't know you were here. This is the first time I think I've ever seen you around dinnertime actually."

"Yes... About that..." Lucina didn't want to explain to them exactly why she avoided mealtimes so often, so she tried to change the subject as soon as possible. "Um, if you don't mind me asking... I was a little curious of what you were just laughing so hard about," she asked as she attempted an uncomfortable smile.

"Heh heh!" Gregor chuckled. "Is all right for Gregor to tell story again?" the man asked Stahl in his thick accent.

"Go right ahead. I sure wouldn't mind hearing it another time," Stahl grinned.

"No! Don't tell it again! It was humiliating enough the first time!" Another voice shouted in complaint from across the table. Lucina hadn't even realized Ricken, who was pouting and very red in the face, seated next to Gregor.

"Ha! Do not worry, little friend!" Gregor patted Ricken on the head as if he found the boy's protests rather amusing. "Is very good story! Princess will like. It was having the starting when Shepherds get day off, yes?"

"Here we go...," Ricken pulled his hat slightly down over his face in shame. "And don't call me little!" he peeped, but Gregor didn't hear him. The older man was already engrossed in his story telling.

"Gregor amusing himself in festivities of town when he was approached by crazy lady. She grabbed the hand of Gregor and then ask Gregor if he wanted to marry her!"

"Marry you?" Lucina raised her eyebrow. "But she just met you."

"This lady very drunk," Gregor explained. "So drunk that baby deer could stand better than she. Very bad. Anyways, obviously Gregor tell her no! But unfortunately for Gregor, she was not having the no for answer. She asked and asked until Gregor say he think about it. To get away from her, yes? She said that she would come to find Gregor soon when he was having the decision, so Gregor did not know what to be doing. But when hope for Gregor almost lost, Gregor found his friend Ricken!"

Stahl snickered at the mention of Ricken's name, making Gregor smile widely. It was as if both simultaneously knew they had reached the good part of the story.

"So like Gregor was having the saying, he get brilliant idea when he saw his little friend. Gregor think he can be fooling crazy lady, so..." The man looked about ready to burst into laughter again and was doing his best to hold it back. "So... he tell Ricken..." Gregor got up off his seat to act out what he had said. "He says, little Ricken," he mock instructed with his pointer finger. "You have to be pretending to be Gregor's... Gregor's girlfriend now!" With that both he and Stahl broke out into laughs again while Ricken only pulled his hat down more.

"What?" Lucina asked incredulously, an actual smile beginning to form on her lips. "You asked him to pretend to be your girlfriend? So you had him dress up and everything?!"

"Yes!" Gregor guffawed loud enough for the entire room. "With blue dress and long blonde wig down to here." He gestured to his hip for comparison.

"A wig too?!" The mental image of Ricken dressed up as a girl like how Gregor had described manifested in her mind, and Lucina couldn't help but laugh a little. "Did it work?"

"Oh, yes! Lady leave Gregor alone when she see him with Ricken. Little friend makes very pretty girl," he replied, still laughing heartily.

"Don't laugh! That was probably the most humiliating thing I've ever had to do!" Ricken cried out.

"Why not? Is funny!" Gregor gave Ricken a friendly slap on the back, which due to Ricken's small stature acted more like a punch to the gut and knocked the wind out of him.

"Please... stop...," the boy asked in desperation as he gasped for air.

"Sorry, Ricken," Stahl apologized. He was trying to calm himself down but was still very giggly. "It's just hilarious! Even better the second time around!" He looked back down at his almost completely eaten meal before his eye caught the empty place next to him. "Hey, Lucina. You still haven't gotten any food yet! Gosh, I would be starving if I was you."

"Yes, yes. Get dinner," Gregor agreed. "Soup is very good tonight."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucina replied as she got up off her seat and went into the small kitchen connected to the dining hall. She wasn't even that hungry, but she still put enough on her plate to create a fairly balanced meal while also making sure to get a small portion of the supposedly delicious soup. As Lucina was walking back to her seat, she caught sight of Robin watching her from the other side of the room, but when she made eye contact he turned away immediately as if he hadn't been.

_What had gotten into him all of a sudden?_

Lucina placed her tray on the table and sat down with the question lingering in her mind. Stahl and Gregor had gone back to eating and gave her some time her eat some her own meal before speaking up again.

"How about Princess?" Gregor wondered out loud. "Have any funny stories?"

"Hmm? Funny stories? I... I only have grim ones..."

Stahl was stoic for a moment afterwards, recognizing that it was a touchy subject. "Well, how about anything that's happened since you came here? There has to be one thing that was pretty funny."

"Um...," Lucina pondered as she tried to think of something. "I guess... there was this one time when my father was trying to eat an orange."

"Orange?"

Lucina smiled when she thought about it more. "He was trying to eat it without peeling it. I don't think he knew how."

"Really? Did he actually eat it?" Stahl grinned.

"Whole thing. Skin and all."

"Heh heh!" Gregor chortled. "Gregor not sure if he have as much confidence in leader now if he cannot peel mere orange!"

Lucina gritted her teeth as her little story didn't seem that funny anymore. "No! That isn't what I meant! My father..."

"Ha! Relax! Was jest. Gregor just kidding," Gregor assured. "Your father very good leader."

Lucina sighed in relief. The last thing she had wanted was to turn anyone against her father. She wasn't the best at saying what she actually felt about things, so she was always worried she would say something that may be taken the wrong way.

"Speaking of eating..." Stahl popped another bread roll into his mouth. "Gregor, remember that time when we ate all that ice cream?"

"Oy! It make Gregor's stomach hurt to be thinking about it!" the man exclaimed.

"What happened?" Lucina questioned.

"Well..."

* * *

><p>Lucina was so preoccupied with everyone telling stories that dessert was already being served before she knew it. Gaius had baked what he called a "victory cake," and Stahl offered to go up and get some for the three of them. He came back from the kitchen with two small slices and another empty plate.<p>

"Where's your cake, Stahl?" Lucina asked him as he gave her and Gregor the two remaining pieces.

"Oh, that," Stahl scratched his messy hair. "I... got kind of hungry and ate mine on the way here."

"Heh! Stahl cannot help himself!" Gregor laughed.

"I guess not."

Lucina took a small bite of her own slice and was pleasantly surprised. Gaius's taste in sweets certainly didn't fail him when he baked this particular cake. She apparently couldn't help herself either, for the dessert was gone in a few bites.

"I'll clean up," Lucina volunteered, and she put the three plates into a neat pile before getting up and bringing them back into the kitchen to be washed. When she returned back to her seat however, she found another piece of cake waiting for her.

"Where did this come from?" she slowly sat down, looking at the second dessert in confusion. "I already finished mine..."

"Huh?" Stahl turned around and looked just as perplexed as she was. "That's odd. I didn't see anyone put it there. And nothing personal or anything, but I probably would have eaten it if I did... I'm still hungry..."

Gregor frowned and rubbed his chin. "Is mystery... Maybe Princess have secret admirer, yes? Ha ha!" he joked.

"Secret admirer..." She turned around in her seat to search for Robin. He was casually whistling where he sat, all the while glancing over at her to see whether she had noticed yet. Lucina smiled and rolled her eyes as she turned back to the table. "Maybe..." She obviously couldn't tell them who she actually thought it was.

* * *

><p>As everyone leaving for the night, Robin rushed over to Lucina as soon as he could.<p>

"Sorry for the seat!" he apologized, looking quite embarrassed with himself. "Sumia sat down right before you got there, and I couldn't think of any way to get her to move without her becoming suspicious... Were you okay?"

"I was fine," she assured. "I was just listening to stories with Stahl and Gregor. It was actually kind of fun."

"...That's good... I was just... you know..." he stammered, lowering his voice to a whisper that she had to strain to hear. "Kind of hoping for you to spend some more time with me..."

Lucina cocked her head to the side questioningly, and then grinned. "Robin... Don't tell me you're jealous! Of Stahl and Gregor!"

"Jealous! What?! No, no way! I would never!" Robin hurriedly replied in defense.

"You are aren't you! I didn't know you were the kind of person who would get jealous!"

"No, I'm not! I... wanted to have dinner with you myself," he responded weakly.

"That's called being jealous, Robin."

"...Okay, maybe I was a little..." he admitted.

"Robin, Stahl is already married and Gregor is more than three times my age. How could you be jealous of them?"

"It's just like I was saying before. Anyone who gets to spend time with you is lucky..."

"You're so sweet," Lucina smiled and grabbed his arm in reassurance. "By the way, who was it exactly who gave me an extra piece of cake?" she asked playfully.

She got a grin out of Robin with that question. "Gosh, I wouldn't know!" he dramatically shrugged. "I mean, if I was a betting man I would say that it was probably someone who likes you very much."

"I wonder who that could be..." Lucina laughed. "Dinner tomorrow then. But you'd better save me a seat!"

"Don't worry! We can go early so I won't make that mistake again," Robin told her, and then realized that they had already arrived at Lucina's cabin. "Well, my room's the other way. Good night."

"Good night," Lucina repeated. "Thank you for caring about me so much." She took a few steps into her room, but got an idea to cheer him up. She ran back out into the hall to give a Robin a kiss on the cheek before he left. He certainly wasn't expecting it, so she succeeded in making him blush fiercely. Lucina giggled at his surprised look and hurried back into her cabin and closed the door before he could say anything else. She threw herself onto her bed and put her hands behind her head. She remained there unmoving for quite a while, contentedly thinking about nonsensical things they could do together when they arrived back in Ylisse.

The next night she and Robin started a friendly competition, a game of sorts, in which Robin attempted to smuggle her his dessert and she tried to catch him in the act. Lucina wasn't able to do so at first, for Robin was sneakier than she expected and somehow slipped the food under her nose every time. She eventually grew wise of his schemes and did manage to stop him twice near the end of the week they spent at sea, even though he still gave her his dessert afterwards.

"So what was the final score? Robin five, Lucina two?" he asked as they walked down the gangplank into the Feroxi port.

"Yes... As much as I'm happy to be back, I'm still a little grumpy about that. I was just getting good at beating you when we arrived!" Lucina complained like a child would after losing a game.

"Doesn't matter though," he grinned triumphantly. "I still beat you."

"Oh, come on. You're mean!" she pouted, but the stupid face Robin was making prevented her from doing so for too long.

"I'm going to go help fill the convoy with everyone's things," he told her, walking over to the growing pile of the Shepherds' belongings being unloaded onto the dock.

"I'll be there in a minute," she called back distractedly. Lucina thought she had seen someone in the crowd that made her feel uneasy, so she looked again more carefully as Robin departed. Sure enough, she spotted the same hooded man that she had just noticed a second ago walking towards them slowly. He looked like he could be a spy judging from the dark clothes, but he didn't seem to care about hiding. Even still, there was some air to him that Lucina didn't like at all. She found her father amongst the other Shepherds and warned him of the man's approach.

"Is that so?" Chrom asked. "Frederick." He made a beckoning motion to his loyal guard, who promptly joined his side to intersect the man before he could come any closer. Lucina watched from a few feet away, not wanting to meet the man but ready to attack if he attempted anything.

"Greetings, sir," Chrom called out. "You look as if you want to tell us something."

"Good day, noble prince," the man spoke with a dull voice and gave an unenthusiastic bow. "I speak on behalf of King Validar of Plegia. He has an urgent message that he sent me to deliver to you.

Chrom raised his eyebrow but allowed him to continue. "I'm listening."

The man unraveled a piece of parchment tucked away in his cloak, but didn't bother the read the entire message. "His Majesty wishes to inform you that he would like to give you Sable, the last of the Gemstones for the Fire Emblem that Plegia has guarded since ancient times. He formally requests you to come to Plegia so that he could give it to you."

"Hold a moment," Frederick stopped him. "How did you know that milord has acquired four of the five Gemstones for the Fire Emblem?"

"I am but a humble messenger. I do not know how my master had come upon that particular information," he growled, but the tone of his voice seemed to contradict his statement. Lucina was fairly certain he knew perfectly well.

"Why couldn't he just have sent it with you?" Chrom asked, growing suspicious himself.

"His Majesty apologizes, but he feared that it may be lost or stolen along the way. He humbly wishes to bestow the Gemstone to you personally, so that he can..." He paused as if forgetting what he was meant to say, then hissed, "Assure that you receive it safely."

"I see... Thank you for your message," Chrom replied.

'You are very welcome, milord," the man bowed again. "I will send word to His Majesty to expect your arrival soon," he said before vanishing into the crowd once more.

Chrom and Frederick turned away from where the man had left and started walking back towards the ship with Lucina meeting up with them along the way.

"Robin!" Chrom called his tactician over and informed him everything of what the Plegian man had told them.

"It's definitely a trap," Robin spoke at last in a low whisper.

"Yes, probably," Chrom sighed. "But we don't have any other options at this point. We must complete the Fire Emblem if we wish to prevent the fell dragon from rising, and we cannot do so without all five of the Gemstones. If Validar doesn't give us the stone, he may at least reveal its whereabouts."

"I don't have a very good feeling about this, Father," Lucina told him quietly.

"Neither do I," he agreed.

"May I suggest that you leave the Fire Emblem somewhere safe, milord?" Frederick contributed to the conversation. "Then Validar would be unable to take it from you should he decide to change his mind."

"Unless that's what he wants us to think," Chrom told him. "Then he could steal it while my best men are away. It's safer here with me for the time being."

"Yes, I respect your decision, milord." Frederick agreed.

"I hate to do this after we just won a war," Chrom began. "But I fear we must go to Plegia as soon as we can."

"But we can't do nothing to protect ourselves, Father!" Lucina exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Lucina. I'll be sure all the Shepherds are fully armed and ready before we get anywhere near that castle."

"Would you like me to inform the others, milord?" Frederick asked.

"No, not yet Frederick. Let's wait until we all get organized before breaking the news."

"Indeed. I will assist in preparations now," the knight responded before leaving to give commands to the other Shepherds who were loading the convoy.

"Hmm..." Robin murmured. He was being remarkably quiet for something this important. "Chrom..." he asked. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

"I know better to ask questions when you have that look in your eyes..." Chrom agreed, and the two of them walked away to find someplace more private, speaking in hushed undertones all the while.

Lucina had no idea what Robin was planning, but like her father had already said himself she knew better to question him. She frowned and her hand instinctively found Falchion's hilt resting at her side. She had allowed herself to be more lax in her duties the past few weeks, but now she could not afford that luxury. Whatever happened in Plegia, Lucina knew that the outcome would either change her fate or seal it.

* * *

><p><strong>Gregor... The most lovely dialogue in the entire game... All of their conversations at the dinner table are from actual supports by the way! Did you catch any of them?<br>**

**As well as Robin feeling jealous, because he definitely would. **

**So if you haven't picked up on it yet or was a little confused on why Lucina has been acting differently in these past two chapters (besides the fact that Robin kissed her) is that I have this headcanon of sorts in both this fanfic and in the actual game itself that Lucina is serious and determined and whatnot almost all the time, but when she has a day off or time to herself she's actually pretty lovey-dovey. I think I get that feeling from how in Lucina's supports and actions it seems like her personality is a mix of that between adult and child. She's very adult-like in her goals and determination to succeed, but she also has childish moments such as when she gets excited over her mother's (very beautiful) polka dot Emmeryn dress. That's why she gets excited over little things, like feeling rebellious for owning the dress Robin got her, that you wouldn't usually see in a serious person. Also she doesn't want to lose anyone close to her again after her parents the first time, so she feels happy when she's around Robin and kind of "clings" to him. **

**She reverts back to her more serious, adult-like self at the end of this chapter now that they're actually going to Plegia and her mission is once again taking center stage of her life (even though I prefer writing with her "alter ego" if you will). Sorry if Robin and Lucina's scenes together seem kind of fluffy all the time. They're my personal OTP after all and I like writing about them in that way - very light-hearted and emotionally intertwined. Brings out the inner romantic in me I guess...**

**All of the older chapters (1-5) have been edited slightly to improve problems with grammar and to help the overall flow of the story better if you want to check them out. Also I realized I was spelling "Shepherds" wrong this whole time so I should have fixed all of those (I'm so embarrassed I'm sorry...) Let me know if you see any that I missed so I can correct them. **

**To finish up this incredibly long endnote, going to Plegia is next chapter actually this time. Drama can begin once again... finally...**


	8. The Spider's Web

_In which the Shepherds go to Plegia and Robin begins acting strangely_

* * *

><p>Chapter 8 – The Spider's Web<p>

The Shepherds had hardly had time to rest in Ylisstol before Chrom decided to break the news about their summons to Plegia. They were finally nearing the end of their long march through the desert, but it was clear that the intense heat was taking its toll on their strength. Even though she was on horseback and didn't have to spend energy trudging through the sands, Lucina was so tired she would have been perfectly content with lying down and going to sleep. As tempting as a nap sounded, she reminded herself that the success of her mission to save the future could potentially be attained in the Plegian castle, so she couldn't afford a break now. The sun however had no intention of providing her relief before this critical moment; if Lucina wasn't concerned with looking ridiculous and throwing her pride away, she may have even held her cape over her head as feeble protection from the relentless rays.

"Hey, Lucina!" Severa's voice suddenly rang out from behind her, and the girl pulled her horse up side by side with Lucina's. "Good gods it's hot, isn't it?"

Lucina was too exhausted to give an actual response and simply grunted to acknowledge her.

"Well..." Severa began after a tired silence. "You know why I'm here..."

"Actually, no," Lucina sighed. "Nothing personal or anything, but if you're going to complain about something please save it for another time. I'm not in the mood today."

The girl's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Geez, is that what you think I do _all_ day?!" she asked as she began to raise her voice. "Well I'll have you know, I don't just complain about things: I take action on my everyday grievances too and yell at the people who annoy me. Also I spend a lot of time trying to make myself look presentable after all the stupid chores I have to do."

"Sorry that I offended you." Lucina didn't understand how she wasn't already used to this conversation with Severa yet.

"And it doesn't help that I'm sweating like crazy, which is making my hair get all sticky and disgusting," Severa groaned, wiping a damp strand away that clung to her forehead. "But whatever. Like I was saying, I'm here to talk about your boyfrie..."

"Shhh!" Lucina scolded and put her finger to her lips, immediately alert. She glanced around her to check and see if Severa had caught anyone's attention, then spoke in a harsh whisper. "What were you thinking?! Someone definitely could have heard you!"

"Sorry!" Severa lowered her tone as well and gave a guilty smile. "Really though -can you tell me who he is yet? I'm _dying _to know."

"Severa, be serious. You know this mission is important."

"I know that, and I _am _being serious! Love is serious stuff. Now tell me who he is!" she begged.

Lucina rolled her eyes at the girl's childish insistence. "I can't and won't tell anyone right now. My father mustn't find out."

"What did I warn you about not telling anyone, Lucina?" Severa pointed at her in accusation. "You won't be able to take it eventually if you force your feelings down all the time. I saw it almost happen to my mother before Father came around, and I'm not about to let the same thing happen to you!"

"I have to... I'm not ready..."

Severa cocked her head to one side and sighed deeply. "I know these emotional things aren't easy for you, but I'm going to tell you this again. At least let someone else know that you trust, even if it's just the little bit that you told me. It will help you cope with it until you are ready." She saw that Lucina was becoming uncomfortable, so she lessened her demands. "How about this: one question. I'll leave you alone if you tell me if he's told you that he likes you yet."

Lucina hesitated, unsure of whether or not to respond, but decided there was no harm in letting her know to satisfy her appetite for information. "Yes, he has," she smiled a little at the thought.

"And did you tell him how you felt?"

Lucina nodded in agreement, deciding against reminding Severa that she had asked more than one question.

"Way to go, girl! I thought that's why you were happier on the trip back. Perfect, like usual," Severa grinned briefly before her lips fell back into her usual frown. "And speaking of perfect, I haven't yelled at my mother for hours. She probably misses me." The girl glared in Cordelia's direction at the far end of the group. "Look at her. Not a care in the world because she's so darn great. She's probably bragging about her latest achievements or something."

"Severa, I've never heard Cordelia brag about anything. She's too modest."

"Well, there's a first for everything," Severa took hold of her horse's reins more tightly and began to turn in her mother's direction. "I'll see you around I guess, and you'd better be ready to tell me by then!"

"We'll see," Lucina responded tiredly as Severa merged with the rest of crowd.

* * *

><p>It could have been five minutes after Severa left or it could have been an hour. The sun was still ever present in the cloudless sky and Lucina had lost track of time. She allowed her eyes to wander to see how the other Shepherds were faring, and she caught sight of Panne with Yarne following close behind. Panne was opposed to harnessing the power of any other beast to assist her in work that she was able to do herself, which included riding horses for transportation. Therefore, she insisted on walking and commanded her son to do the same if he was to follow taguel customs. Lucina respected the fact that her decision was based off of the reverence that taguels held for other beasts of the earth, but if any of the Shepherds needed the most relief from exhaustion it was probably her and Yarne. Lucina winced at the thought of having a taguel's insulating fur on top of the blistering heat, and suddenly her own issue with the weather seemed much less problematic.<p>

She was still appreciating the fact that she wasn't a taguel at the moment when she heard her father call her from the front of the group.

"Lucina," he beckoned. "Come ride with us."

He was referring to himself and Robin, who had shed his coat in an attempt to keep cool. As Lucina urged her horse to speed up its pace slightly to catch up with Chrom at the front of the group, she reminisced on the time in Valm when Robin had taken her into town and found herself in the same mental struggle regarding his appearance. _Alright, fine. I do find him attractive,_ Lucina admitted to herself. _But that's no reason to lose your focus._ Despite her feeble protests, she was still getting distracted.

"Is anything the matter, Father?" she asked in an attempt to take her mind off it.

"No... I just wanted to make sure that you were feeling up to this today. I mean, you've been working yourself more than usual lately, and I'm concerned that you may be too tired for this mission."

"I've been working hard in preparation for this mission, Father," she sighed in exasperation. "Of course I'm up to it."

"You have been training all day and going to bed very late ever since we arrived in Ylisse," Robin added quietly. "You can sit out if you need rest."

"Robin's right," Chrom agreed. "All of that work isn't going to do you much good if you don't have the energy to apply it."

"Father, you know that I can't stand back during a time as crucial to my future's change as this." She then shifted the conversation towards the tactician. "Besides, you don't sound too bursting with energy yourself, Robin."

Robin didn't reply for a moment. "My head has just been bothering me recently. I shouldn't be complaining about it though."

Lucina frowned, recalling the last time that Robin had mentioned having the same problem to her. "But, your headaches can get bad..." She was going to remind him of how she had to practically lift him from the ground when he experienced that one terrible headache, but remembered that Chrom was present and couldn't know about their date.

"...Don't worry about me. It's really no big deal," Robin reassured, but Lucina wasn't entirely convinced. She was about to argue with him when she heard her father sigh in relief to himself.

"Finally..."

"What is it, Father?"

"There it is," Chrom pointed in the distance. The intense heat made the very air shimmer and Lucina had to squint to see, but the Plegian capitol was slowly coming into view. "I don't know about you, but I've had enough travelling through this godforsaken desert."

As they grew nearer, Lucina would have been relieved to see the castle as well if not for its surroundings. Plegia Castle was nestled within giant skeletal structures half buried in the sand that made her feel very uneasy.

"That massive skull..." she observed bleakly. "It reminds me... of him."

"Who?" Chrom asked then immediately realized the answer. "Grima."

"Yes..." Lucina gritted her teeth at the mention of the fell dragon's name. "I saw it when Emmeryn... died as well. Even though I can't say for certain whether or not those are his real bones or just likenesses for worship by the Grimleal, but the resemblance is... uncanny."

"We won't let him come back, Lucina," Chrom assured her. "I'm not about to let that happen, and neither are any of the other Shepherds. We will succeed."

"...Thank you, Father. I hope you're right." She turned away from the skull; the very sight of it spurred a torrent of terrible memories that she wasn't willing to relive if she could help it.

Robin held his horse steady, even after Chrom began to move forward again. He was still glaring at the Plegian castle as if something about it troubled him as well. Lucina waited until Chrom was out of immediate earshot to speak with him more directly.

"Robin, you haven't been yourself recently either... Is there something wrong? You can tell me."

The tactician was silent, as if the fell dragon's bones had him hypnotized, then slowly responded with a question of his own.

"Lucina... Do you remember what I promised you? That night when we... you know..."

"Of course," she told him, a little unsure of where he was going.

"Good..." Robin seemed relieved. "No matter what happens in there... I'll be there for you. I... I need you to promise me that you won't forget that."

"I would never forget," Lucina gave a small smile of reassurance.

"And also... promise... that you'll remind me if I forget," Robin's voice was quivering, and his eyes still never left those of the skull.

The smile on Lucina's face turned into a confused frown. "Why would you forget?" she asked softly.

Robin looked hesitant. "...Just in case," he replied and ended the conversation there, pulling on the reins of his horse to start walking again.

Lucina watched Robin slowly move away from her without another word. She urged her horse forward as well, taking care to keep her distance, as it was clear that he didn't want to talk about it. Something definitely wasn't right with him, and she only wished that she had a clue as to what it was.

* * *

><p>"You see them too, don't you?" Robin whispered to Chrom as the Shepherds were led deeper into Plegia Castle. "Plegian soldiers. In the shadows."<p>

"Yes... Just make sure everyone is on guard," Chrom replied without turning his head in order to maintain a regal posture as he walked.

Robin held his hands behind his back, quickly holding up the signal he had devised in case there was any trouble before dropping it. Always alert, Lon'qu caught the indication and gave a slight nod of the head to show he understood before melting into the Shepherds' ranks, casually taking up the rear while passing the signal on to the rest of the army.

"We're walking right into a trap, Father," Lucina hissed under her breath. "He lured us here so he could kill us."

"It certainly seems that way," Chrom agreed. "But we cannot show any suspicion. We need to find out where the last of the Gemstones is."

Lucina's anxiety had shifted into high gear as soon as they had entered the castle, and she had to resist the urge to tear Falchion from its hilt and leap at the Plegians who were almost surely waiting to ambush them. She took a quick glance down every corridor and into every room to make a general estimate of how many soldiers they may have to face. It wasn't very hard to search, for almost anything that cast a shadow hid a few of them and they weren't exactly being subtle.

As the escort led them around a corner and into a different hallway, Lucina peered into an ornate dining room with a table that stretched long enough to easily fit over a hundred people. At the very end of the room on the other side of the table, she thought she saw a single man out in the open standing very still and looking back at her. His cowl was pulled low and cast a shadow on his face, so she couldn't see any of his features clearly. Lucina didn't pay him much attention at first, but then stopped, as her mind comprehended what she had just seen. Wasn't that man wearing...? But Robin was right with them... Lucina glanced inside the room again to find that whoever was inside had disappeared. She had to continue moving to keep up with her father, but Lucina couldn't shake the feeling that the man had been wearing Robin's coat.

Again, she checked to make sure that the real Robin was indeed still with her father, but couldn't help noticing that he seemed stranger than he had been before. His movements were tense and he looked distracted, as if he had something else on his mind. _He must be so nervous_, Lucina thought helplessly. More than anything she wanted to go to Robin and at least hold his hand to reassure him that she was there for him, but much to her dismay their positions didn't allow it at the moment.

"Right this way, milord," their Plegian escort halted in front of two gilded doors and motioned towards the other guards to open them. "His Majesty King Validar has eagerly awaited your presence," the man growled as he stepped aside, showing the Shepherds in.

"Thank you," Chrom nodded, suspicious but showing no evidence of it.

The room that awaited them on the other side of the doors was massive enough to fit all the Shepherds comfortably with plenty of room to spare. It was filled with some of the most extravagant furniture and carpets that Lucina had ever seen, which were all shades of purple and gold. The tapestries that hung by the arched windows were breathtaking, but not because they were beautiful. Each one was emblazoned with the Mark of Grima, the six-eyed symbol that represented the fell dragon. The six eyes that invoked fear and signaled imminent death now surrounded her. Lucina shuddered at the constant reminders of her ruinous future and at the possibility that the events that led to Grima's resurrection may still come to pass in this timeline.

"Ah, what a pleasant surprise!"

The voice made her flinch, and Lucina felt the need to check behind her just in case the man it belonged to wasn't there to stab her in the back. The lanky Plegian king strode into the room from another set of doors on the opposite end with a sinister smile on his face. He was shadowed by Aversa, the sorceress who had once served under Gangrel. The man raised his long, gnarled fingers into the air as he examined his prey with satisfaction.

"Welcome to Plegia, Prince Chrom," Validar exclaimed. "I've been expecting you for far too long."

* * *

><p><strong>And I leave you with Robin's loving father.<strong>

**Severa got some unexpected screentime in this little transition chapter, which is always good - I love writing using the diversity of all the characters from Awakening to spice the dialogue up a bit. To anybody wondering why Robin and Lucina are still keeping their relationship secret, it isn't as much as how the Shepherds would actually react and more of how Lucina _thinks _they would react. ******Ever since she came to the past, she's wanted to keep her alterations to the bare minimum needed to change the future. Unfortunately for our friend Lucina, she never expected that she would fall in love with her father's tactician. **Her logic behind not letting her father find out is that she figures he would get angry regarding the whole "your daughter with your best friend" thing. Now we'll have to find out eventually whether or not that's actually how Chrom will see it, especially because some things can't be hidden for long...**

**Robin has been acting rather strangely, hasn't he? That problem will also be addressed later, so if the meaning of what he says confuses you a bit, it will make more sense soon.**

**I also want to say thank you for all the people who have favorited/followed/reviewed so far - it's nice to know that people enjoy reading my work! I'll keep trying to write this story to the best of my ability! Until next chapter!  
><strong>


	9. Traitor

_In which Validar turns on the Shepherds and Robin steals something important_

* * *

><p>Chapter 9 - Traitor<p>

"The pleasure is mine, King Validar," Chrom gave a courteous bow. "We responded to your invitation as soon as we could. My men needed a brief rest after the war."

"Ah, yes," Validar grinned. "I must congratulate the Ylissean army for your impressive feat."

"You conquered the unconquerable," Aversa added. "Walhart was nothing but a delusional man in a position of power."

"I wouldn't say that," Chrom replied, slightly annoyed at the woman's understatement. "The war wasn't easy, and many brave warriors died fighting his regime. The terrible loss of life should not be forgotten."

"But did you not succeed? Sometimes sacrifices have to made to achieve a greater goal." Aversa acted as if Chrom's remorse for the fallen was trivial.

"Not if I can help it," he declared. "If there's a way for me to save every life I can, I'll follow that path no matter how difficult it may be."

"An admirable philosophy... But we can't always get want we want, can we, milord?" the woman sneered.

Chrom narrowed his eyes, becoming visibly agitated by the conversation, and shifted the conversation back to the Plegian king before that anger could overflow into his speech. "I was told that you had something that you wanted to give us," he reminded the man bluntly.

"No time for a friendly conversation?" Validar asked in exaggerated surprise. "Your anxiousness and lack of courtesy trouble me," he hissed. "The Gemstones and the Fire Emblem can be... dangerous artifacts to say the least. Their improper usage in the past is a fact that the Grimleal are all too familiar with."

"Improper usage?" Lucina blurted out, unable to believe what the man had said. "You mean when the first exalt used them to banish the fell dragon centuries ago? How could ridding the world of that... that monster be improper?!"

"That 'monster' you speak of is the very god that we Grimleal worship here in Plegia," Validar snarled. "Other Plegians are not as... forgiving of such insults as I. I would watch my tongue if I was you, future child."

_Future? But he wasn't supposed to..._

"How did you know that?" Robin angrily spoke up for the first time, in sync with her thoughts. "You don't know who she is!"

"Ah, my son!" Validar cried as if he had just noticed Robin, ignoring his accusations. "You were so quiet that I wasn't aware of my own flesh and blood in the room! You really should be more mannerly in the presence of your father." The man took care to emphasize the word and make it loud enough for all the Shepherds to hear.

Robin winced and immediately recoiled as if he had been slapped in the face. The fact shamed him to no end, and the look on his face told Lucina that he wanted to pull up his cowl and hide. She could hardly believe that the two were related at all: they had practically nothing in common from their complexions to their personalities. Robin was kind and thought about the needs of others before himself, while Validar was the opposite. Still, the blood relation had worried the tactician ever since he first learned of it on Carrion Isle.

Validar seemed to be taking great pleasure in Robin's discomfort and laughed coldly before continuing. "Where have you been?" he tormented. "You belong here in Plegia. Your rightful place is by my side."

Robin's brow furrowed and he put a hand to his head, as if every word that Validar spoke was bringing him great pain. "No..." he responded weakly. "I know where I belong..."

The Plegian king rose to full height and put a hand into the folds of his cloak. "We shall see about that," he muttered quietly as he found what he was searching for. His fingers emerged from his robes, now holding a small round object that he held high into the air. The sun from the surrounding windows reflected off the stone, causing its polished black surface to gleam. "The very object I hold in my hand before you is Sable," Validar declared. "It has been under close Plegian protection for many years, and now it shall finally serve its purpose."

Lucina was in awe of the brilliant sight. There was no doubt that the object was truly the last of the five Gemstones, and the very same one that had been lost in her future. Without it, she had been unable to perform a complete Awakening ritual and receive Naga's full power. It did manage to generate enough energy to send her and her friends into the past, which was their only other option. Had they had all the Gemstones, events would have turned out very differently for her future.

Chrom looked relieved as well, fearing that Validar had lied about having it in his possession at all. "It is most gracious of you to give this to us, Your Majesty." He extended his right hand to take the stone, but the king ignored his gesture.

"It shall serve its purpose," Validar repeated. "But not the one that you pursue, Prince Chrom."

"What?" Chrom was slow to respond, relived expression fading from his face.

"You are not welcome here, intruders!" the king snarled with sudden malevolence, placing the Gemstone back into his cloak. "You are not part of the world that he wishes to create! You must be removed from it!"

Lucina gritted her teeth, instinctively finding Falchion at her hip. "You mad scoundrel! This is a declaration of war!"

Validar held out his arm, motioning for the soldiers by the doors to block the exit. "Ylisseans!" he cried. "I offer you a trade! The Fire Emblem... for your lives!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Chrom shouted, hands on his Falchion as well.

"That was not an option as much as a command," Validar growled angrily. "Give me the Emblem now!"

"...Never."

"Then we shall see if you can save every life now, Prince! Guards! Seize them! Do not let them leave this place unharmed!"

"Chrom! We have to go!" Robin snapped out of his grimace and was again on full alert.

"Shepherds!" Chrom shouted. "Fall back and cut down anyone who gets in your way! We fight for our lives!"

Immediately the Shepherds had their weapons drawn and had assumed a battle formation, using their size as a group to defend each other as the Plegian soldiers who had been concealed began to attack. Lucina pulled Falchion from its sheath, and almost would have been relieved that the tense atmosphere had been broken if not for that Validar still had the Gemstone. She looked in the man's direction again, but he had vanished into thin air along with Aversa.

"Nowi! Nah! We need you now!" Robin called out over the rising clamor.

"I hope these bullies like dragons!" Nowi grinned childishly and pulled out her dragonstone, raising it into the air above her head with Nah doing the same. In a burst of energy akin to an eruption of flower petals, two massive manaketes rose from the Shepherds' ranks.

"Together, Mother!" Nah's voice echoed, warped by her dragon form. Simultaneously, the two released streaming fireballs from their mouths at the closed door, which blew apart and burst into flames.

"Now! Go!" Chrom beckoned to the rest of the army, and together with Robin led the escape. The Shepherds began flooding out of the now open exit, striking down the onslaught of opposing soldiers. Nowi and Nah were forced to change back into their human forms, for the hallways were much too narrow for their dragon bodies.

Lucina was still desperately searching amidst the chaos of the throne room for anywhere that the Plegian king could have disappeared to. They needed the last Gemstone. Without it the future couldn't be truly changed!

"Lucina! We need to..." Robin cried from the door before pausing to counter an attack from a Plegian soldier with his Levin Sword. Shaving the man aside, he pointed the sword directly at his opponent. The sword began to crackle with magic before releasing a deadly thunderbolt from its tip, sending the other man sprawling to the ground. "We need to go now! There's no time!"

The mission was a failure, but still, retreat was never her ideal situation. She would have preferred to stay and find Validar so she could force him to hand over Sable by any means.

"Lucina!" Robin shouted again, growing impatient.

"...I'm coming!" she called back, and left the throne room behind to join the last of the Shepherds by the doorway. Robin waited until she had joined up with them before assuming the rear of the group, frantically ensuring that everyone was still accounted for.

"Robin, I need you up here!" Chrom commanded as he cut down an enemy mage. "All of these rooms look the same! Where do we go?"

The tactician forced his way through the crowd to the front, but as he met up with Chrom he held his hands to his head in pain.

"Are you alright?" Chrom nervously asked.

"...Yes. I'm fine. We go..." Robin paused to think before continuing. "We have to go right! Then straight when the hallway forks into three!"

"You heard him! Let's go!"

Lucina tried to keep up the pace with her father and Robin, who kept blurting out convoluted directions despite his headache. She didn't remember following this same path when they had entered, but Robin must know where they were going. If he really was Validar's son, maybe he was having subconscious memories of the castle from when he was younger...

"Another right! Through the far arch!" he yelled out, to which the Shepherds dutifully obeyed.

When they finally came to the main entrance hall, even Robin looked relieved that his navigation was successful. The Plegian soldiers that stood between them and exit didn't seem natural though, as if they were in some sort of trance. As Lucina fought, she noticed that their movement was more like that of the Risen, and they seemed slower to feel pain. What she found particularly unsettling was that the men were mindlessly repeating the same phrases over and over as they fought.

"Don't leave Plegia so soon!" an axe-wielding man droned as he brought his weapon down. "Stay with us!"

Lucina slipped out of the man's reach and thrust Falchion at his side, piercing an open slit in his armor. The soldier dropped his axe and collapsed to the floor, but otherwise did not make any indication that the attack had hurt him.

"Stay... forever!" he gasped with a final breath and fell still. Even fighting the Risen was more comfortable in comparison, because Lucina knew that they were already dead. But this behavior in the living... What had happened to them?

The Shepherds were forced to assemble into defensive, compact groups and had to use superior range and speed to attack. Given the more open space, their shape-shifting allies were able to join in the chaos. Manakete fireballs joined the stream of arrows over Lucina's head and combusted on hoards of Plegians at a time, while Panne and Yarne in beast form darted around the room, striking with bone-crushing strikes from their hind legs.

Despite the hall's massive size, it was still an enclosed area, and since the two sides were so close together Lucina found herself having to avoid taking friendly fire as well as enemy attacks. If she got on the wrong end of a taguel's kick she could easily be critically injured, and it didn't help that Henry was haphazardly throwing out hexes left and right.

"Hey, I remember you from wizard school!" he flicked his wrist at another Plegian mage and hit him with a stream of dark magic. The hex drained all the moisture from the other man's skin, causing it to dry instantly and flake off. "...And now you're cursed! Nyaha!" Lucina certainly didn't want to be hit with one of those either.

Still, the enemy soldiers showed no signs of defeat. They weren't difficult to outwit, especially in their mindless state, but had strength in numbers. Plegians poured out from the surrounding hallways, stepping over their fallen comrades. They repeatedly threw themselves at the Shepherds with little regard for danger, and their recklessness enabled them to land suicidal attacks. The Shepherds didn't reasonably expect their disregard for their own lives, and were taking minor injuries as a result. If this kept up, the army would exhaust itself before they could make it out the door.

"We're almost out!" Chrom called. "Don't waste any time fighting! Head straight for the exit!"

"Chrom!" Robin's eyes widened in terror. "Something is coming! We have to leave now!" he moaned.

"Robin, what's wrong?! What's com..." her father was interrupted by a flash of light in front of him, then he shouted in pain. "Hgh..." He fell to his knees with his hand over his chest, as Validar's twisted form materialized in front of him.

"Chrom!"

"Father!"

"I will ask you nicely one last time," Validar spoke slowly, withdrawing his hand from where he had struck Chrom. "Give me the Fire Emblem!"

Lucina tried to run to her father's aid, but something was preventing her from doing so. No matter how much she pushed against it, a sort of invisible barrier pushed back with equal force. She could nothing but watch her father's fallen form in horror.

"Never... You'll never take it from me..." Chrom groaned, unable to stand up.

Validar's lips curled into a grin at Chrom's response. "You're right," he admitted, turned his head to face Robin. "I won't take it from you... My son will!"

"What? I would never..." Robin attempted to protest before doubling over in agony. The color rapidly drained from his cheeks, and he drove his fingers into his scalp. "Get... out... of my... head..." Robin growled weakly, looking like he wanted to tear his very brain from his skull.

"Robin," Validar addressed him. "You will do as I say."

"I... I..."

"Give me the Fire Emblem."

On the command, Robin shakily rose to his feet, body shivering uncontrollably. He took a single step towards Chrom's crumpled figure, then another, then another. Lines of strain still etched their way across his face, but like the rest of the Plegian soldiers, his expression was now blank and his eyes were glossy. Removing his arms from his head, he held his hands outstretched towards Chrom, or more specifically the artifact that he possessed.

"No!" Lucina screamed helplessly. Robin flinched at her voice, momentarily halting his advance, but a sharp glare from Validar forced him to continue.

"Robin... What the hell are you doing?!" her father winced as his tactician stood over him. Not responding, Robin bent over and seized the Fire Emblem, trying to rip it from Chrom's grasp. The two struggled for control of it for a moment, but Chrom couldn't fight for long in his injured state. "N...no..." Chrom conceded in defeat as Robin pried the Emblem from his hands.

Robin hobbled over to the Plegian king holding the artifact outstretched with both arms, as if begging for him to take it. The moment it was within reach, Validar greedily swiped the Emblem with his spider-like fingers. As soon as he did so, Robin instantly collapsed to the ground, like a puppet with severed strings. Validar seemed to caress the Emblem gleefully, running his sharp fingernails over every ancient inscription on the object's surface.

"It was foretold that I was to come in possession of the Fire Emblem," he spoke absentmindedly, not directed towards anyone in particular. "His will is coming together as we speak." Lucina felt as if every word was a stab at her very soul, and her skin grew cold in fear. As if confirming her assumption, Validar then turned to eye her with the same malice he had before in the throne room, then spoke with words that turned her very bones to ice. "The future is sealed."

With his final statement, Validar vanished, disappearing in a flash of light and burst of shadowy smoke. The force that had suppressed Lucina's movement was lifted as well, but she still felt as if a huge weight rested on her chest, constricting her breathing and crushing her heart.

Chrom was already getting up with his Falchion in hand, and he was rapidly advancing on his fallen tactician. Contrary to what Lucina assumed he was going to do, her father instead held out his other hand to help Robin's dazed form to his feet.

"What... what happened?" Robin confusedly asked, to which her father answered with a soft but firm "Not now."

Chrom turned away from him and again sounded the retreat call, calling the Shepherds away from the fighting and out the exit into the scorching desert sun once more.

* * *

><p>Despite the frenzy of the escape, Lucina had not made a sound. Even when the Plegian castle was far in the distance and the Shepherds were safe, she said nothing. She wouldn't have been able to speak even if she had wanted to.<p>

The camp was uncharacteristically quiet as well. Everybody had found something to do while they reflected on what had happened. Lucina had not seen the Shepherds' tactician since the event; he was probably hiding somewhere so no one would see him. She didn't care.

Lucina checked thoroughly to make sure that no one was near the training grounds, for she needed to be alone as well. She began to set up another training dummy, and her hands trembled in her work as she tried to contain herself. Slowly bringing Falchion to her face, Lucina felt her breathing quicken and the anger and pain she had held back began to rise. She glared at her target, which was humanoid in shape with a blank face. If it had eyes, Lucina was almost certain that she would have seen Robin's in them. _How could he?!_

She viciously lashed her blade out, inflicting a deep slash in her target's side. _How could he do this to me?!_ She attacked again, piercing the dummy's right arm and sending it flailing about.

_He... played me... for a fool!_ Every word was another furious sword strike. _This whole time... he was throwing me off! Making me careless!_ Another attack. _And... and to think... that he ever could have loved me! _Lucina felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she refused to allow them to fall.

_Why?! Why did it have to be you?! Of all the people in the world, the one I fall in love with is the one who I have sought to destroy!_ Her swings were slicing empty air instead of the target now as she was rapidly losing focus. Every miss that she should have hit only made her angrier. _You liar!_

A terrible solution began to form in her mind, one that just earlier had made her skin crawl and filled her with fear, but the more she thought about it, the more impossible it was to avoid. _I came here for one reason, and one reason only,_ Lucina reminded herself over and over. _I must only fear failure! My conflicted feelings must not stop me! _Her sword strikes began to connect again as she crushed her doubts one by one in her mind. _I cannot allow you to stand in my way!_

With a scream of wrath, Lucina brought Falchion back then plunged it deep into the dummy's chest so that its tip protruded from the other side. She refused to move for a moment as she tried to calm her frantic breathing. Staring into the battered dummy's still blank expression, she saw Robin's eyes again and winced. She took a step back, leaving Falchion impaled in her target. Her outburst scared her. Lucina couldn't remember the last time she had felt that angry before. Even though she didn't want to admit it to herself, she felt as if the visions of her ruined future that flashed through her mind were justification for her actions enough. She shakily pulled Falchion from the target's chest and returned it to its sheath at her hip, rage now dispelled and replaced with sorrow. _I'm sorry, Robin... But you leave me no choice._

* * *

><p><strong>I did promise more drama, so I hope I did not disappoint with this chapter! <strong>

**Henry makes a short cameo as well - his hexes would definitely do something strange instead of just killing right then and there, because that isn't fun nyaha. **

**It certainly seems like Lucina's fears of falling in love are coming true aren't they? Lucina getting as angry as she does is a little uncharacteristic of her, so her outburst at the end shows how conflicted and in denial she is. Right now she's more angry at Robin for what she thinks was a "false affection" towards her rather than at his stealing of the Fire Emblem. She thinks he betrayed her, so she's broken-hearted... Poor Lucina. We'll have to see Robin's opinion of these assumptions soon. Robin flinching under Validar's spell at the sound of Lucina's voice is important, so be sure to keep that in the back of your mind for the coming chapters. **

**What do you think - worth the build-up from last chapter? Ready for the confrontation scene now? Be sure to leave a review of what you think - I love getting your feedback, especially now as the story heats up!  
><strong>


	10. Life Means Death, Death Means Life

**Long chapter, anyone? The confrontation, or Lucina's judgement, is probably the most intimate scene between Robin and Lucina in game, and it's especially significant if Lucina is married to Robin (she isn't in this story now, but they're technically dating I guess so its a similar scenario). I wanted to make this chapter nice and lengthy because of how important it is to their relationship. Also because writing emotional and intense dialogue between these two is my second favorite thing after writing fluffy dialogue between these two. I'm sorry to say that you aren't getting any fluff this chapter though. Try listening to the music that plays during this scene Id (Sorrow) to get in the mood. Prepare yourself. **

_In which Lucina confronts Robin and must choose between love or hate_

* * *

><p>Chapter 10 - Life Means Death, Death Means Life<p>

Over the next few days, Lucina took special care to monitor Robin's actions just in case he was tried to attempt anything else while morale was low. It wasn't difficult to do; he very rarely wandered from his tent after what happened in Plegia. He only really left to go on short walks or grab meals, which he took back to his tent to eat anyways. Like he had done to her in Valm, Robin was doing a masterful job at avoiding people when he didn't want to be seen. Lucina didn't think that she had heard him speak to anyone else either, even when he was forced to be with the rest of the Shepherds as they marched out of the desert. This evening, they had set up camp in the forested plains that separated Plegia from Ylisse.

Lucina had been planning her course of action since Robin stole the Fire Emblem from Chrom, and now all she needed was to get Robin alone. No one could see what she had to do, especially Chrom. As much as she didn't like having to constantly keep her father in the dark, she knew that he wouldn't be able to understand the necessity of her action and that his insistent trust in Robin would make him try to stop her. _He wasn't there. He hasn't stared into the embodiment of death's six gleaming eyes and watched it slaughter all those dear to you. _

The moment presented itself to her when Robin left his tent around dinnertime. Instead of heading in his usual direction to the mess hall, he began to walk the other way towards the outskirts of camp. Lucina traced his steps from afar, making sure that he wouldn't be able to hear her approach until it was too late. As Robin made his way into a small grove of trees that surrounded camp, she stopped walking in a sudden outburst of self-disgust. Is this what she had fallen to? Nothing more than a beast stalking its helpless prey? This was murder. Murder that she felt was justified by the millions of lives that could be saved, but still murder nonetheless. He hadn't killed Chrom yet, but did the possible risk of him doing so justify her need for Robin to die? Was any murder justifiable? Was what she was about to do any different from what Robin was going to do? Might do? She started to doubt herself, which she had hoped wouldn't happen. She forced herself to push any doubts away. Lucina was accustomed to this by now, and she locked these uncertainties away in her mental vault along with all her other fears and desires; the vault had to be almost full by now. Repeating the goals of her mission over once more in her head, she hurried to catch up behind Robin.

On the other side of the trees, she emerged into a small clearing. It was thick with amber grasses that grew up to her knees. Taking a brief glance over her surroundings, she found Robin on the other side of the field, standing over a fallen log with his back towards her. He brushed away a few fallen leaves with gentle sweeps from his hand before sitting down. Even though the trunk was propped up and rested above the ground, the tactician's long coat still scraped the earth, becoming damp with the dewdrops that clung to the grass. He let out an exhausted breath and his tense shoulders began to fall as he slowly relaxed them. Hands folded in his lap, Robin stared deep into the trees and challenged the forest to match his silence. The two were at odds for a few moments until the forest yielded to his gaze with a light breeze that caused the leaves to rustle softly. The man however did not seem proud of his victory; he only responded by reaching into his coat and pulling out a plain-looking book as well as a small inkwell and quill.

He placed the inkwell down next to him, ensuring that the log was flat enough so that the bottle wouldn't slip off before uncapping it, then he opened the book about three quarters of the way through to a blank page. Dabbing the tip of his quill into the inkwell, Robin started to write. After putting only a few words down he hesitated, quill tip hovering over the page as he read the letters over in his head. Lucina was far too distant to see what he had written, but before she could make an assumption Robin struck a definitive line through the words and started over. Again he paused after a sentence or two, and he shook his head sadly as the words suffered the same fate as those that had been written before.

Lucina watched the cycle repeat a few more times, every one of his attempts eventually becoming as short as one word before it got crossed out as he got frustrated. She wasn't able to wait until he finished his seemingly hopeless endeavor, so taking a deep breath to mentally prepare herself for what she was about to do, she began to walk towards him. Lucina did not have to be concerned with remaining stealthy now, and she allowed her footsteps to fall harder than before. Robin's head rose as soon as he became aware of her approach, and quickly he fastened the cap onto his inkwell and tucked all three of his items back into his coat. His body stiffened in apprehension as he stood, but he did not turn around. Lucina halted when she was a few yards away from him, and for a moment her eye caught the tea stain on his coat that she had caused before she focused herself once more.

"Robin," Lucina finally spoke, breaking the uneasy silence.

The man cringed at the name, as if its meaning appalled him, but he immediately recognized the voice who had spoken it. "Lucina..." His whisper of a response was weak and tinged with slight fear.

"...We need to talk."

The tactician could tell from her tone that she hadn't followed him all the way out into the forest out for an idle conversation, and he slowly turned around to see her. "Listen, about what happened in Plegia... Gods..." He scratched the back of his head and looked down into the grass. "It's... so hard to me to put into words, but I can try as best I can for you."

"You don't have to, Robin. I know what I saw," Lucina spoke in a steely voice. She hated how pathetic he was making himself look; it was like she was scolding a small, helpless child, and now she was starting to feel bad for him. _I'm too soft! I can't let these feelings get the better of me! _"Save your sorry faces. They won't work on me anymore."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked confusedly, but Lucina refused to play this game with him any longer and changed the subject.

"Robin..." she began, averting her gaze and looking up into the sky, which was soaked in vivid reds and oranges as it approached the final stages of sunset. "What do you think about my father?"

"Chrom? We've been through a lot together - my whole life that I can remember. We've fought side by side in countless battles, and I'm glad that he was the one who found me in that field." Robin thought out loud.

"My father is kind and caring, and despite being in this war he desires nothing but peace to come from it. At least, that was what I thought of him as a child," Lucina reminisced on the few memories she had of Chrom in her timeline. "When I made the decision to come to the past to save this world's future, I had the slight fear that those qualities were exaggerated. That I only saw the good in my father at my naive age and he actually wasn't as great as I thought he was."

She paused and broke away from the vivid sky, making eye contact with Robin again. "I was happy to find that those fears were wrong. Now that I have the privilege of speaking to him at my older age, I realized that he was a more kind and considerate person than I had ever imagined." Despite the anger she felt for Robin at the moment, Lucina managed a small smile. "I know even more so now that if he dies, the world will be robbed of a noble man.

"Yes, Chrom is a great man, and a greater friend," Robin agreed, then adopted a more somber tone. "I keep telling you this, but still I can't imagine how it must have felt to lose him. It must have been impossibly hard for you..."

Lucina gritted her teeth at the mention of her feelings. "Which brings me to why I'm here," she told him, attempting to remain stoic but found that her anger was beginning to boil over her calm exterior. "Do you know the real reason that I have trouble with trusting who should be my closest allies? I haven't told anyone about this, not even my father yet, but it is because whoever killed my father was one of the Shepherds."

Robin's eyes widened in revelation. "So that's why you felt the need to protect Chrom in Valm. You thought that Donnel could have been the one who allowed him to die..." He put a hand to his chin as he thought, then blurted out, "But who would try to kill Chrom? All of us here would protect him with our lives, not leave him to die!"

"That's what I believed as well when I was young," Lucina informed. "The Shepherds were all heroes to me. I even used to pretend I was the leader of my very own junior Shepherds with Cynthia and Owain. But my faith in them was forever tarnished when I learned that my father was killed, betrayed by one of his closest friends."

She paused to see if Robin had anything to add, but was quiet and willed her to continue. "I feared of growing too close to any one of them when I came here. When I discovered my father's killer-to-be, I didn't want to feel too attached to whoever it was, so I would not hesitate when I had to take action. I realize now that despite my best efforts I failed in this desire, because in light of recent events I have all the reason to believe that my father's murderer..." She took Falchion's hilt and slowly drew it from its sheath, but kept it at her side. "Is you, Robin."

"What? That's insane!" Robin cried after her accusation registered in his mind. "I would never think, not even dream of hurting Chrom!"

"Then what happened in Plegia?" Lucina began to raise her voice, gradually allowing her rage to surface. "Why did you so willingly heed Validar's command to steal the Fire Emblem from my father?"

"Lucina, that wasn't my choice to ma-"

"You thought you were clever," Lucina interrupted him with a low growl. "You knew that I would stop you, so you tried to throw me off! Distract me with your false affections while you slipped past my defenses to get to my father!" Her right hand tightened around her sword's hilt, and the other curled into a fist. She glared at him with eyes full of rage, but her voice was desperate. "Did our love truly mean nothing to you?!"

"No! That isn't true at all! My love for you-"

"Is a lie!" Lucina cried out, again refusing to allow her tears her fall. "All those times you said that I was special to you, and that you cared for me... All lies!" Her voice fell softer. "It wasn't just enough to evade me so you could try to kill my father, was it? You knew I was broken and you had to break me some more..."

"Lucina!" Robin tried to speak. "Stop saying these terrible things! It was never my intention to kill Chrom! I would never try to hurt you!"

"I knew I never should have fallen in love with anybody in the first place, even if it was real," Lucina ignored him. "When my mission is complete, I have to return to my future to help rebuild my world. I...I don't belong here, and neither does my affection. Whatever love I had died with the millions of people who lost their lives to Grima." She held Falchion in a battle stance, tip pointed at Robin's chest. "I apologize, Robin, but I must kill you here before I allow you to cause the destruction I've witnessed!"

"Lucina, you don't have to do this..."

"Draw your weapon!" she commanded. "My pride prevents me from striking down an unarmed opponent. I promise your death will be swift and painless."

Robin stood very still with his expression a mixture of sadness and guilt. He simply stared at Lucina for a long time, then gave a soft sigh and reached down his hand to grab the Levin Sword that was strapped to his hip. The magical sword began to give off a faint glow in response to his touch and gradually came to life with electricity. Robin held the sword in his own fighting stance, but he did not attempt to initiate a duel.

"Lucina," he spoke in a quiet voice. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but I need to tell you that nothing I said to you was a lie, and the love I felt and still feel for you is true. I need you to know that." He raised his Levin Sword high into the air, but instead of attacking he threw the sword to the ground. The weapon made a dull thud as it collided with the earth and crackled faintly as its energy died in intensity.

Lucina winced as she watched his action. She didn't want him to do this. "No... Why did you drop your sword? Pick it up and fight for your life..." she begged.

"You disarmed me," he reasoned. "I don't want to fight you, Lucina, and I would never do anything to try and hurt you. I'm sorry if you felt like I was trying to. I made you a promise, and in that promise I said that I would do anything to make you happy. If killing me will make you happy, if it will finally put your mind at ease and you won't have to fear losing your father anymore, then... so be it. My life is yours, Lucina. It always has been."

"Don't you see?" she asked him frantically. "This isn't going to make me happy! I don't want to have to do this, but I have no other choice! If what you're saying is true... and you knew that your actions could be influenced, then why didn't you tell us? We could have kept you away from Validar and none of this would have happened!"

"I didn't fully recognize how powerful he was, and that he could warp my mind to change my very thoughts..." he tried to explain.

"B...but even if it wasn't your fault, you have to understand that you're still dangerous! If Validar can control you, then what's to stop him from forcing you to kill my father? To kill all of us? Only one of you can live, and that person has to be my father." Lucina's anger was losing its foundations, and it was crumbling away to her true feelings for him. "Please, Robin... I can't let you become your father's living weapon. It's the only way!"

"...You're right," Robin agreed sadly.

"What...no! You aren't supposed to agree with me! You... you can't be so willing to accept death!"

"I want to die while I still remember the kind of person who I used to be. I began my new life as a Shepherd, and if I could choose, I want it to end as a Shepherd, not as a slave. If my father wants to turn me into a weapon, we can't give him that chance, can we?" The corners of his moth rose upward slightly, and Lucina had no doubt that this smile was genuine. "I know that what you're doing is for the good of everyone."

"It's not for the good of you though..."

"You're right that your father is much more important than I am." Robin let out a defeated laugh, as if he found his lack of worth almost amusing. "I thought I knew who I was for a while, but in truth I have no idea. Now that I think about it really, I'm just a nobody that Chrom found lying around in an empty field."

"But you're important to me..."

"I guess you're right about what you said earlier too." It was Robin now who was ignoring her protests. "That I shouldn't have tried to get you involved more than you had to in the past. It...it would have never worked out, and I let my desires get the better of me. You'll have to go back to your future once this war is over, and you couldn't possibly bring anybody from this time with you. I was... just setting you up for heartbreak since the beginning... I'm sorry..."

Robin began to take a few steps towards her, leaving his sword behind. "If you could just promise me one more thing before I die," he asked. "Please, when everything is over, and when you go back to your time, find someone else who loves you. Anybody. I don't care who as long as whoever he is makes you happy and keeps you company." Robin looked away from her for a moment. "Because feeling alone, and not feeling like you belong, is such a... terribly sad feeling, and you mustn't have to suffer that any longer. That's all I want."

"D...don't look at me like that! Don't make this harder for me then it already is!" Lucina stammered.

"I'm sorry," Robin apologized again and continued to walk towards her until he was only a few feet away. "Do what you must. I'm ready now." He held both his hands outstretched with palms facing towards her.

"I'm not though..." she responded weakly.

"Lucina, the time to change your fate is now," Robin's voice was gentle but decisive. "You can finally have the life that you've always wanted to live. I would gladly give my own life for Chrom, and for all of the Shepherds, and for you."

"I... Ah gods... Why?" Lucina was choking on her own words. Robin was still walking towards her, and he was within attacking range now. All it would take was one stab through his chest to end the life that he was so willingly giving up to her. She looked down at the Falchion that her shaking hands still held pointed at him. The teardrop-shaped hole in its hilt had begun to glow a faint blue, like it had on the night when she had prevented Emmeryn's assassination. The light signified that the future was about to be changed, but she didn't want it to have to change like this. Was she about to allow her exalted blade to become a sacrificial dagger?

Lucina brought the weapon closer to her as to prepare for a strike, keeping the point of the sword still trained on the man in front of her. Robin stopped advancing and stood still, then closed his auburn eyes and waited. When she saw him like this... Her own eyes began to water. She was too weak.

"I... I can't..." she whispered, both to him and to herself.

Robin's eyes suddenly opened wide in fear, and as if it was angered by Robin's presence, the Falchion began to glow fiercely. Before she had time to comprehend its reaction, a mental sword buried itself into her head and her brain erupted with a headache that made her skull throb and her pulse rapidly quicken in shock. Dropping Falchion, she let out a brief gasp of pain and sunk to her knees as she clutched her head. She felt like a million shadowy hands had all at once invaded her mind and now were ripping her brain to pieces.

"Lucina!" Robin cried out and tried to rush to her side. As he approached, the ringing in her ears grew louder and the pain intensified, making her let out an agonized scream as she covered her face with her hands. Robin immediately withdrew his hands as if he had burned them and he took a few steps backwards, causing the sharper pain in her head to weaken again. He helplessly watched her crippled form in fear and continued to back away, and with every step he took Lucina's headache became more and more bearable.

"I didn't... How did I..." Robin gasped and held his bare palms up for him to see, as if he expected to find blood on them.

Lucina raised her head to gaze up at him. The sharp pain from a moment ago forced the tears she had held back out of her eyes, which were now running down her cheeks.

"I... I hurt you..." Robin whispered in horror. "A...and I just promised you I wouldn't..." His bottom lip was quivering, and slowly he grasped fistfuls of his silvery white hair. "...I am a monster..."

He nervously looked from side to side like he was surrounded by a menacing force, then he turned his back on her and ran as fast as he could manage back in the direction of camp. Lucina weakly held out her hand as if he was still close enough for her to grab on to, but his shadow had already disappeared from the clearing and the sounds of his feet brushing against the long grass was fading quickly. She didn't have the strength for keep her arm raised and dropped it in defeat. Even though her headache was gone, the shame of what she had just attempted was not. Lucina grasped her hands around her legs and gently rested her forehead into her knees in a fetal position. The grass hugged and concealed her from the rest of the world, and the drops of dew reflected the light of the falling sun.

* * *

><p>Lucina gave up trying to remain in bed when first light shone through the canvas walls of her tent; she hadn't slept at all last night and had been lying with her eyes closed but mind awake for hours. She had seen the same event repeated over and over behind her eyelids, as if she couldn't feel guilty enough after first experiencing it. She withdrew her hands from beneath her blanket and pressed her forefingers to her temples, letting out a low groan. What had she done?<p>

Exhaustedly crawling out of bed, she swapped her nightclothes for her usual attire. She had lazily thrown her outfit into a crumpled pile when she arrived back at her tent last night and it was still slightly damp since it hadn't been hung up to dry, but wet clothes were the least of her worries at the moment. What if Robin had told Chrom what had happened when he ran back to camp? She didn't want her father to learn of what she had tried to do, but if he already knew anyways Lucina didn't want to lie to his face about it if he asked. Slipping into both her boots, she left the solitude of her own tent to find the one that her parents shared.

Upon arriving outside, Lucina thought she could hear her father muttering something, but it was so low she couldn't make it out. She waited for a response from Sumia, but it didn't come. She remembered that her mother usually got up early with Cynthia to tend to their pegasi, so she probably wasn't inside. Her father must be talking to himself then.

"Father?" she called inside gently. "May I come in?"

"Oh, Lucina!" Chrom's voice sounded surprised from her appearance, but it was at least a good sign that he didn't sound angry to hear from her. Hopefully Robin wouldn't tell anyone that she had tried to kill him if he hadn't told her father. "Come in," he called, and Lucina slipped inside the tent flap to find Chrom sitting at his little desk and scrutinizing a piece of paper that he was holding. He muttered a "damn it" under his breath to himself again, then addressed her without looking up. "I suppose that you should know about this too."

"Know about what, Father? What's wrong?"

"It's Robin," he sighed after a brief silence. "He's gone."

"Gone?!" Lucina exclaimed, skin growing cold at the mention of the word. "What do you mean gone? Gone where?"

"I don't know. Sumia woke me up this morning to tell me that she had found this letter from him right where you're standing. He must have slipped it through the tent flap last night while I was asleep."

"Can I see it?" Lucina asked urgently, trying but failing miserably to mask her dread over what it would say.

"Here," her father held out the piece of paper to her, which she took delicately. "He mentions you at the end, but I can't make odds or ends of why he chose to put that in there."

"He does?"

If she had just wanted to read the letter moments before, she was dying to see what he had to say about her now. The paper she held had a neat crease from where it had been folded in half, and one edge was rough and uneven. _He must have torn the page out of a book_, she surmised as she began to read. In elegant but shaky handwriting, the letter said:

_Chrom,_

_I know you probably won't agree with my choice, but after much deliberation on my part I have decided that it is in everyone's best interest for me to leave for the time being. Regarding recent events, I realize that my actions were despicable and give you my sincerest apologies. I still don't know the extent to which my father can manipulate me, and I don't want to take the risk of staying here with you and the Shepherds if he can force me to do anyone harm. My headaches have become more frequent and painful ever since we left Plegia, so I can only surmise that he is trying to obtain a tighter grasp over my mind. Once again, I apologize for leaving you so suddenly, but I feared that if I told you in person you would try and convince me to stay. If I think of any way to get the Fire Emblem back from him, I'll find you and let you know immediately, but I cannot put you or anyone else at risk in the meantime. I'm sure you can manage without me for a little while. I can't do much good for anyone now. I hope that we can meet again someday soon when this awful war is finally over._

_Your friend,_

_Robin_

_P.S. __– __Don't forget to make Lucina eat her meals. I know that she doesn't like being around everybody all the time, but she needs the energy._

That was it. Robin was gone, and it was all her fault. He wouldn't have left if she hadn't confronted him last night!

"I should have known that he would do something rash," Chrom spoke as Lucina lifted her eyes off the paper. "I knew that he felt guilty for what he did no matter how many times I told him not to be. I should have tried harder to convince him that it wasn't his fault."

Lucina couldn't respond to what her father had said. She was desperately trying to figure out what Robin had meant at the end of his letter. It just seemed so out of place... It had to mean something else, but what?

In sync with her thoughts, her father asked her about the postscript of the letter. "Any idea what he meant by the end?" Lucina shook her head no, to which Chrom responded with a sad laugh. "I guess he was still just looking out for everyone even after what happened. Always doing what's best." He shook his head and spoke more to himself rather than to her. "What are we going to do without our tactician? I should have known..."

Looking out for everyone... Of course! Lucina made the connection. He must have anticipated that she would see the letter sometime or another, so the message was definitely meant for her alone and not for Chrom. He must be referring to the night that he was looking out for her best interests and had brought her dinner. It made sense!

Lucina immediately shoved the paper back at her father and started to leave. "Sorry Father but I just remembered that I have to be somewhere!" she excused as she darted out the tent flap.

"Oh... Um, okay then."

She broke into a run towards the training grounds before her father could ask her anything else. Lucina wasn't sure if there was anything waiting for her there, or if Robin's words really were in reality a friendly reminder to stay healthy, but she had to know. She burst into the armory tent, not caring if anyone else saw her so desperate. However, like she expected, her distant hope was crushed when she found that Robin was not there waiting for her to decipher his message so that when she arrived he could embrace her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She realized that there was little hope for her at all that he even still loved her after she tried to murder him for something that he didn't do.

Despondent, Lucina sadly turned to leave when her eye caught a folded piece of paper on a weapons crate. The paper was small enough to be easily missed if one wasn't looking for it. Slowly she walked over and picked up the paper, holding it in front of her with both eagerness and hesitance. She knew that she wouldn't be able to bear not reading it, and taking a deep breath she began to unfold the creases. This paper also had a rough edge, so he must have ripped it from the same book. Lucina took one look at the top of the page and then quickly folded it up again. The first word was her name written in the same handwriting as Chrom's letter.

She clutched the note close to her chest as she ran out of the armory as quickly as she had run in, this time to her own tent. She didn't want anyone to walk in unexpectedly to see her reaction. Upon arrival, she sat down at the foot of her bed and reopened the folded edges of the letter so she could read. The words were even shakier than on Chrom's letter, and there were a few ink blotches from where his hand must have slipped while writing.

_Lucina,_

_Gods, I don't know where to begin. I hope that you find this sooner than later, because I don't want you to feel bad for what you tried to do. I know how much it means to you to keep your father safe and to prevent your future from happening again, so I won't have you worry about not succeeding anymore. If my father turned me against you I would never be able to live with myself, and I don't want to take that chance. Every day that goes by I find it increasingly difficult to determine what is real and what the voices in my head that the headaches bring say is true. I don't know how you got one of my headaches last night, but please understand that it was never my intention to hurt you and I apologize with the bottom of my heart. I know that I'm a monster, but as of now my deepest wish is that maybe someday you could forgive me for what I have done. You may be long gone to a time and place that I'll never be able to reach before I have the chance to see you again, but if that's the case I'll feel better knowing that you aren't mad at me wherever you go. Please don't be scared anymore. You're the strongest person I know and the strongest person I'll ever meet._

_Robin_

Lucina had to reread the letter when she finished, tracing over every word with her finger to make sure that she was reading every sentence correctly. Out of all the emotions that she felt in reading Robin's letter, she found herself again growing angry, not towards him but towards herself.

"I'm... the monster," she whispered out loud, then began speaking as if Robin was right next to her. "It wasn't your fault! None of this was your fault and I was too blinded by my assumptions to see that!" She placed her finger over where Robin mentioned Validar. "He did this! He did this, not you!" she cried out, then became aware that someone may hear her from outside and lowered her voice. "I should be the one asking for forgiveness..." Lucina clutched the letter tightly and hung her head low into the page. "I'm sorry..." she whimpered, and she didn't move for a long time.

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><p><strong>...Wow. I hope you didn't drown in the sea of feels after reading this chapter.<strong>

**I tried to change up the confrontation scene a bit because I wanted it to seem more unique to this story, and I felt that now more than ever with the tension between Robin and Lucina that this would be the optimal time to deviate slightly from the game's plotline. I hope I conveyed their feelings for each other in their dialogue well enough! If the title was a bit confusing, I was going for a summary of Lucina's beliefs at the beginning of the chapter - if Robin lives, then he'll bring death to her father; if he dies, it should ideally save millions of lives.**

**Now I'm sure that you're probably wondering how Lucina got one of Robin's headaches, so I'll try to explain my reasoning. As you could guess, it wasn't Robin himself who caused it. Also, take note that the Falchion is imbued with Naga's power. In the simplest terms, Grima's power inside Robin and Naga's power inside the Falchion were reacting to each other. Grima's heart is linked to Robin's, and therefore the fell dragon could sense that Robin was in danger of Naga's power. Essentially, Grima attacked Lucina to protect Robin, even though at that point Lucina wasn't about to hurt him anyway. Now I know it seems odd at first that Grima was trying to _protect_ someone else, but in reality he was protecting himself, or his avatar, until he could assume total control over Robin. Grima isn't linked to Lucina though, so he had to assault her mind through Robin. However, Grima can only attack someone else from a very short range. This is why Lucina's headache decreases in intensity when Robin steps away from her. Grima is still too weak to affect anyone else from farther than a few feet. I also wrote that the Falchion began glowing intensely right as Robin opened his eyes and realized something terrible was coming. This was basically a warning to Lucina by Naga of the imminent attack by Grima. Whew, I hope that all those personal interpretations made relative sense... I'm a big fan of elaborate headcanons, theories, and the like. Send me a quick question if it was confusing and you care for more clarification.**

**Also, the only reason that Robin doesn't give Lucina his letter directly to her tent was that I wanted her to find his one to Chrom first. Kind of to show that Lucina still does care for him deeply because of how eager she is to decipher his message and find his note.**

**But do you think now that we've lost our male protagonist for the time being that the story is going to end and leave you on such a somber note? This is the perfect time to introduce a new important character in a few chapters! But who would this character be you ask? Gosh, I don't know. The Shepherds need a new tactician... Someone with Robin's skill... I wonder where they'll find someone like that? *wink wink***


	11. Lost

_In which the Shepherds determine the next course of action and Lucina takes some advice_

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><p>Chapter 11 – Lost<p>

"Did you find him?"

"I'm afraid not, milord."

Lucina pretended to become suddenly interested in the ground so her father wouldn't catch the look of utter disappointment etch its way across her face. Frederick had gone out on search missions for Robin three times today; each time the knight had come back, Lucina had held on to the desperate hope that he would bring their tactician with him. Despite the world's attempts to extinguish it, her small flame of hope kept on burning.

Chrom grunted and crossed his arms in frustration. "Did you find out anything about him then? Where he's going?"

"I visited three nearby villages and questioned some of the kind folk that live there, but not a single one said that they had seen or heard of a man meeting Robin's description," Frederick replied. "Do you think that perchance my verbal description was lacking?" he thought out loud. "Perhaps I should provide a portrait of Robin for greater clarity."

"I don't think that will be necessary, Frederick..."

The man didn't seem to hear him, and his brow furrowed as if he had just received explanation for his failed searches. "...Forgive me, milord. I realize now that since I still have yet to find Robin, I must not be searching hard enough; I promise to double my efforts from this very moment." He began to fasten on his shoulder plates as he spoke. "I will set out for another mission immediately."

"No, Frederick. It's me who should be giving you the apology," Chrom sighed. "I've been so desperate to bring him back that I didn't realize I was working you too hard, and you deserve a break for today."

"I assure you, milord, I can handle this workload easily," Frederick's eyes sharpened, eager to prove his ability. "You've been quite stressed after since Robin left, and if I allow milord to worry due to my failures, then I have failed as a knight of the halidom!"

"I admire your determination," Chrom gave a small smile. "But it's getting late, and you've already went out on three searches today." The false smile fell away to reveal his crestfallen realization. "As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not sure if we'll be able to find him at this rate. Robin knew that I would try to find him if he left, so he's probably trying to get as far away from us as he can. We just can't move this whole army as fast as one man!" He kicked his boot in the dirt and threw up his arms in annoyance. "If I didn't have to stay here to watch over the Shepherds, I'd head out there right now and haul his stupid arse back to camp myself if I had to!"

Chrom made a childish pout and stood in angry silence for a moment, as if he was waiting for someone to tell him that he didn't have any other responsibilities to attend to so he could track down his friend. "I still don't understand why he felt like we wouldn't accept him after what he did. It wasn't his fault and everyone knew that!"

_Everyone except me, _Lucina was again reminded of her mistake. As much as she wanted to take the blame and explain to her father that she was the one who drove him away, she knew that then her father would start questioning her as to why, and that would definitely cause her to break down. She kept silent.

"Do you honestly believe that he stole the Emblem on the purpose?" Chrom asked Frederick, desperately searching for affirmance of his statement even though he already knew the answer.

"My suspicion that he held ill intentions towards us vanished long ago, milord. Robin is a good man. One would have to be blind to not notice it."

It was like the two men were reprimanding her for her poor judgment without addressing her directly. Lucina didn't want to be constantly reminded of facts that she already knew, but felt like she deserved it nonetheless.

"My thoughts exactly." Her father was satisfied with Frederick's response. Chrom made a fantastic leader, but if there was one thing that he despised to no end, it was when his other responsibilities held him back from doing what he wanted. He didn't like it when his position dictated what he could and couldn't do.

"...Anything about Validar then? Do we know what he's planning to do?" her father reluctantly turned away from the subject of Robin for a moment to concentrate on the other major issue at hand.

Frederick bowed his head. "I fear that I have failed you again, milord. I have yet to uncover any information on the Plegian monarch's movements or intentions."

"Damn... Without the Fire Emblem we have nothing over him..."

"However, I did pick up on a small bit of knowledge from some of the elder townsfolk. Well, more of a rumor..." The knight looked ashamed again that he wasn't able to provide anything that was a confirmed fact.

"About?" Chrom was curious and motioned for him to continue.

Frederick regained his confident demeanor and spoke more surely. "The legend referred to an artifact called Naga's Tear, milord. The people say that it contains a portion of power from the Divine Dragon herself and that it has the ability to revitalize and strengthen an entire army. Assuming that it does exist and that these rumors are true, if it contains even a fraction of Naga's power..."

"Then we would at least have something..." Chrom completed Frederick's thought and put his hand to his chin. "Do you at least know where it could be?"

"Yes," the man looked relieved that he could finally address one of Chrom's questions directly. "They say it lies in an abandoned shrine to Naga called the Ruins of Time. If the villagers' sources are correct, then it should not be too far from here: maybe a day's march at most."

"Hmm, we don't have any other plans of action at the moment..." Chrom reasoned, then gave his verdict. "Rally some of the Shepherds. Tell them we leave for the Ruins of Time tomorrow."

"Right away, milord," Frederick bowed and immediately set to work.

Chrom turned away from the knight's retreating form and caught Lucina out the corner of his eye. "Oh, Lucina! You were so quiet I forgot that you were with us!" He smiled but soon recognized that it wasn't helping to improve her somber mood. "What's the matter, Lucina?" he asked in concern, becoming more serious. "You haven't been yourself recently."

"...Oh, I'm fine," Lucina was slow to notice that he was talking to her.

"Don't lie to me, young lady," Chrom put his hands on his hips in mock anger, but Lucina could tell he was exaggerating from his tone. "I'm your father, and I can tell that something definitely isn't fine."

_If he starts questioning me now..._

"Um..." she looked around nervously, then feigned a yawn. "I guess... I'm just really tired. I didn't feel rested this morning."

Chrom rolled his eyes, like he knew the problem all along. "Honestly, Lucina. How many times do I have to tell you to ease up on your training every once and a while and rejuvenate yourself? You were probably up too late last night practicing your swordplay again."

"Yes, that must have been it," Lucina agreed, even though the statement was completely false. She hadn't even touched Falchion since she had tried to kill Robin with it, and, while she had stayed up all night, she had been thinking over what had happened. Last night she had gone through a whole speech of how she would apologize to him if he did come back, but nothing she came up with felt right.

"No training tonight. Father's orders," Chrom commanded as he clapped his hand on her shoulder. "You'll have plenty of time for that once we reach the ruins. I need you to keep your strength up, okay?"

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Good," her father grinned, taking a few steps backward. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should go and help Frederick prepare for the march. Goodbye, Lucina."

"Bye, Father," Lucina gave a quick wave and fled in the opposite direction. She waited until he was out of earshot before she let out the breath she had been holding. _That was too close. I have to be more careful about not let other people know what I'm feeling... _She looked over her shoulder as a precautionary measure just in case her father wasn't following behind her, but in doing so wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and managed to bump into her mother.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Mother!" Lucina cried in embarrassment, catching Sumia's arm before she fell flat on her face.

"Don't worry about me, Lucina," her mother gave a warm laugh. "I'm used to falling over things." She brushed herself off before continuing. "How are you, love? I'm sorry I don't get to see you too often. For someone so... independent, your sister certainly requires a lot of attention."

"Right," Lucina frowned and looked into the distance, focusing on nothing in particular except her thoughts.

Sumia was silent for a moment, studying her facial expression. "Okay, what's wrong? I can tell you have something else on your mind."

_I just told myself I would be more careful... _

"No, I'm fine. I'm just tired," she tried to use the same excuse she had for her father, faking another yawn.

"I have a little thing called a mother's intuition, Lucina. You'll need to try harder than that to fool me."

"Really, I am!" Lucina tried to argue. "Ask Father. He understands."

"Your father is about as good at reading people as he is at riding a pegasus," Sumia laughed again.

"Father knows how to ride a pegasus?"

"Not at all. That's what I meant: he's terrible at both," her mother explained. "So remind me again what you _should_ be telling me."

"I...I'm okay."

"Lucina..."

Something was telling her that she wouldn't be able to get around her mother so easily. For someone who gave the impression that she was somewhat scatterbrained, Sumia could be remarkably aware and confident.

...Could she tell her mother? Lucina was ashamed that she had completely forgotten about her mother being an option for someone else to tell. Sumia _was _one of the very few people that she would trust with something as important as this, and she would understand, but would she let the secret leak to Chrom? Taking one look at her mother's expectant face, Lucina wasn't sure if she had an option anymore. She was a terrible liar.

"M...Mother? Could we speak somewhere... a little more private? Please? This... this is important..."

Sumia could tell that her daughter was being truthful, and she immediately complied with an equally serious tone. "Of course. Is it okay if we go to your tent?"

"Y...yes."

The entire walk to Lucina's tent was completely silent. Lucina tried to go over in her mind how she could possibly try to present her problem without becoming emotional, and Sumia nervously eyed her every few seconds to make sure that she was alright. When they finally arrived, Sumia fastened the tent flap from the inside and had Lucina sit down with her on the bed.

"What's the matter, dear?"

Lucina was hesitant, but decided to heed the rest of Severa's advice and go through with telling someone else. "Mother, it's just that... recently... I realized that... I mean, I'm... I thought... This is hard for me to explain..."

"That's okay," her mother kept her voice very soft and soothing. "Take your time. And just remember that I'm your mother. You can tell me anything. Whatever is bothering you."

Lucina took a deep breath. "Okay," she agreed timidly. "Just... please don't tell Father. I'm not ready to tell him. Not yet."

To her relief, Sumia put a single finger up to her mouth. "My lips are sealed."

Lucina tried again. "Recently... I realized that there was someone... very important to me. Someone who I... hold very dear to my heart." She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the gasp of shock, but it didn't come.

Sumia did look rather surprised, but didn't look angry or start asking her a hundred questions a minute like Lucina had expected. Instead, her mother remained quiet until she felt more confident that her daughter was comfortable, and then only asked her one thing.

"Is... is it alright if I asked you who?" she spoke slowly, then added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's... it's..." Lucina's voice was weak. Even though her initial was to keep her mouth shut, she knew that it would make her feel better if someone knew everything. "It's... Robin."

If Sumia was surprised again by what Lucina had said, she made a great effort not to show it. She again gave her the time she needed, but once Lucina had finally let it out that she had feelings for Robin, it was like the lock to her mental vault had been opened and her emotions were now flooding back to her all at once. She had to tell her mother everything.

"...then we ate together..."

"...I was the one who spilled tea on his coat..."

"...when I woke up in the medical tent he was watching over me to make sure I was okay..."

Lucina couldn't help herself. At least Sumia wasn't asking any questions. She considered not telling her mother about what had happened after the Valmese war, but she knew that it was important for her to know.

"...he brought me flowers and... and then he kissed me..."

"...went into town and he bought me a beautiful dress..."

"...thought he betrayed me, so I... I tried to kill him, Mother! I thought that he would have been the one who kills Father in this timeline, so I tried to kill him but I couldn't do it and now he's gone and I don't know what to do..."

Sumia attentively listened to her entire story, then, once she was sure that Lucina was finished, she spoke. "So that's why you've been so sad lately. You miss him."

Lucina didn't want to answer verbally in case she started crying in front of her mother. Instead, she gave a quick nod and bit her lip out of nervous habit.

"Oh Lucina..." Sumia sighed. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? You poor girl..." She reached out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Y...you aren't mad at me?" Lucina asked, shocked at how calmly her mother was taking all this information in.

"Why would I be mad?" her mother smiled. "Well, I suppose a little. I'm mad that you thought you had to do that to Robin, and I'm mad you didn't tell me sooner when I could have helped you, but I'm not mad about what you feel for him."

"I was scared that I had fallen in love," Lucina explained. "And with someone from this timeline especially. I...I didn't think you would approve of me..." She paused, relieved that her mother had done the opposite. "What do I do, Mother?"

"Well, I'm afraid that we may not be able to bring Robin back at this very instant, but he said in his letter to Chrom that he would be back once the war was over, right? It gives us all the more reason to finish this as soon as we can." Sumia started to absentmindedly play with a few strands of Lucina's cobalt hair, pausing every once and a while to pick out a knot or two. Ordinarily Lucina would have objected, for she felt like she was far too old to be babied by her mother, but under the circumstances she didn't feel like arguing. "You really should take better care of your hair, Lucina," Sumia commented in an attempt to lighten her daughter's mood. "It' so beautiful when you clean and brush it out."

"You know I don't have time for that, Mother," Lucina allowed an exasperated smile to flash across her face. "Your appearance doesn't matter in battle. I don't care about looking pretty at all."

"Lucina!" Sumia gave an exaggerated gasp. "Don't say that! You're very pretty and don't you forget it!" She stopped speaking for a moment, carefully phrasing her next statement. "I know... that this is probably hard for you to realize, and it's not your fault that you don't, but there are other aspects of life besides the war. Human beings just can't survive on fear and fighting. Our souls were meant to love, and it's the love that we feel that gives us the strength to overcome our fears and keep on fighting."

"In the future fear reigns supreme," Lucina solemnly reminded her. "It's so hard for me to remember the last time that I felt like someone loved me in that way. You and Father... I lost you when I was very young. I had my friends and my sister, but that was different. I was so confused of what to do when I realized that he loved me, and I loved him back..."

"I know. It's a confusing feeling at first. I...I'm so grateful though that you feel this way."

"What do you mean?"

"It's that, honestly, when you first revealed yourself to be my daughter and my maternal instincts started to kick in, I was... afraid that you would never feel what you do now. I feared, after everything you went through, that you wouldn't open up to someone. That whatever part of you that could truly love someone was pushed so far down into your mind that it wouldn't be able to get out." Lucina was surprised to see Sumia's eyes tearing a little, but she didn't look sad. "I prayed that someone very special would come along one day and help your feelings to surface, and I suppose that Robin was that person."

"Mother..." Lucina didn't know what to say. She hadn't realized that all this time her mother had been so worried about her daughter finding happiness. "Thank you. For caring about me so much, I mean."

"It's what a mother does, love," Sumia wiped her eyes. "If you don't know what to do, you can always come to me. Your mother will always be there for you, even if I'm someplace... very far away."

Lucina inhaled sharply and looked away so she couldn't see Sumia's face. If she looked into her mother's eyes she wouldn't be able to hold back the tears.

Sumia sat patiently next to her, waiting to see if Lucina had anything to say for a few minutes before finally asking in a voice little more than a whisper, "Would it help to have some time alone?"

Lucina nodded while keeping her head hung low, and Sumia slowly stood up, eying her expression carefully. She turned to leave, then hesitated so she could lean down and kiss her on the forehead. "You'll be okay, sweetie. We'll find him." Her mother rose again, and quietly opened the flap to the tent. She paused again, staring up into the sky from the doorway, then with a sigh slipped off. Lucina was left alone with her thoughts, but they seemed the slightest bit lighter than they had moments ago.

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><p><strong>Lucina finally tells someone! I wanted to build up Lucina's relationship with her mother to help her cope with Robin's disappearance, because after everything that's happened, I figured Lucina needed some way to let all her emotions out. <strong>

**But that's not all that Sumia has to bring to this story - I leave you with another chapter, two in one day! **


	12. Burnt Pages

_In which Lucina gets an unexpected visitor and finds something else to fight for_

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><p>Chapter 12 – Burnt Pages<p>

It must have been past midnight already, but Lucina was still wide-awake, sitting up in bed with only a small candle flame for light. A light rain began to fall outside, breaking up the silence of the late hour. She considered numerous times to pull out her dress to look at it, but every time she reached into the chest that held it, her hand faltered and she couldn't bring herself to do so. Seeing it just served as another reminder of the things Robin had done for her that she had so blatantly ignored.

If she had been paying attention, she may have noticed a yellow light outside through the canvas walls of the tent. It was moving closer, steadily rising and falling as its holder walked. The rain muffled the sound of footsteps brushing past the grass from far away, so she only heard them once the light was right outside the tent flap. With a silent gasp, Lucina scrambled to find something to defend herself with against the intruder before a sharp whisper called her name.

"Lucina!"

A pause. Lucina said nothing.

"Lucina!" the voice sounded again, slightly louder. "Are you awake? It's me, Sumia."

"M...mother?" Lucina stuttered in surprise. "Yes, I'm awake." She hurried over and unsealed the flap to find Sumia standing outside, holding a lantern on one hand and a tightly wrapped parcel in the other. "Come in, Mother! Get out of the rain!" she ushered her in.

"Thank you, dear," Sumia looked relieved and stepped inside the tent.

Lucina closed the tent flap to keep the rain out. "What are you doing awake this late, Mother? You should be asleep!"

"I should be asking the same thing of you," Sumia replied, trying to dry herself off. "I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I saw your light on and thought you may want to know now."

"Know what?"

"Well, I just came back from flying on my pegas-"

"You were out?!" Lucina gasped. "How on earth did Father let you go? It's dangerous at this time of night, especially in this rain! You could have been attacked by Risen, or could have gotten lost, or..."

"I'm alright, Lucina," her mother reassured. "The moon is bright this evening, even with the rain. It lit my way. And your father doesn't know that I left. I told him after dinner that my pegasus wasn't feeling well, and I was going to sleep in the stable with her so she would have some company. Animals get lonely too."

"Why did you lie to Father?" Lucina didn't understand: her mother never lied.

"Because after you told me why you were feeling so depressed, I felt responsible as your mother to try and search for Robin again. I asked Frederick where he had already been, then I sneaked out to look where he hadn't."

"You did that... for me?" Lucina was in awe, then got excited. "Did you find him? Is he waiting outside?" She ran back and seized the tent flap with the intent to tear it open before Sumia stopped her.

"I'm sorry, Lucina... I didn't..."

Lucina slowly released the canvas she held and let it fall back into place. "I... should have known," she realized somberly as the world extinguished her flame of hope once again. "...Then why did you come to see me?"

"It's because I didn't find Robin, but I _did_ find something. I found his camp," Sumia explained softly.

"B...but, if you found his camp, then he had to be there!" Lucina's desperation sparked the anger in her voice. "He had to! Why didn't you bring him back to me?"

"Calm down, Lucina," her mother responded, slightly taken aback by Lucina's outburst. "He was long gone. There was nothing left but his abandoned campfire."

"I'm sorry for yelling..." Lucina hid her face in shame. "It wasn't your fault he wasn't there..." She was quiet for a moment before she let her frustration get the better of her again. "But then how did you know it was Robin's camp?" she asked as she tried to control her breathing. "It could have been anyone else's!"

"I know because I found something that belongs to him there," Sumia hesitated. "Something that he left behind."

"Robin wouldn't forget about something."

"He didn't forget about it. He tried to destroy it."

_Destroy it? _Lucina's anger lost its strength. "...What was it?"

Sumia placed the lantern that she was carrying down on the tiny end-table near Lucina's bedside, and then slowly began to unwrap the package that she was holding, taking great care not to damage it. From the parcel she carefully withdrew a medium-sized book that was burnt at its edges and smothered in ash.

"No..." Lucina couldn't believe that Robin would let that happen. "Robin would never burn a book! He loves them!"

"This isn't just an ordinary book," her mother said somberly. "...It's his journal."

"Robin never told me he kept a journal..."

"I don't think he told anyone. I never heard him nor Chrom mention anything about it before."

"But that still doesn't make sense!" Lucina exclaimed. "Why would he do such a thing to a book as precious as this?"

"I don't know," Sumia sighed. "What I do know is that we're lucky to have it. He must have tossed it into the campfire before he left and something must have put the flames out quicker than he expected."

"Can... can I read it?"

Her mother knew the question was coming, but she still looked slightly worried. Nevertheless, she extended the charred book into her daughter's trembling hands for her to take. "Lucina..." she began. "Before you open it, there's something I want you to know. The things in that book... may bring you great pain, but I won't stop you if you feel like to have to read it." Once the journal was safe in Lucina's hands, Sumia sat down in a chair in the corner of the tent. "I'm going to stay here for a little bit while you read. Just in case."

Lucina nodded in agreement and took a seat herself on her bed, turning all her attention towards the delicate object she held in her lap. The journal's cover was plain but was hanging slightly askew; the binding had been weakened by the flames. She felt it necessary to gently push it back into place before she opened the book to the first page.

It was dated the very same day that she had arrived from the future, the same day that her father had found Robin lying in the field. The page was burnt and difficult to read, but Lucina was still able to capture the feelings of his words: relief and curiosity mixed with a bit of fear. Robin had told her that he felt afraid when he first woke up... The last sentence was intact enough to read, and Robin finished off his first entry.

_I don't know who I am exactly, or what my story was like before I woke up, but I'm interested to see how it will continue._

Lucina turned the page, and found that on the next he spoke about the events of that night, including her. It was when she still disguised as Marth, but even so she was wanted to see what Robin had to think. He called the person mysterious but kind: someone who he didn't know anything about yet gave him the feeling that "he" was someone who could be trusted. Robin really was like her father; he already trusted her before he even knew who she was.

She continued to flip pages, briefly skimming over any words or sentences that were legible. Every time Lucina came to an entry too burnt to read, which was much too often for her liking, Lucina was overwhelmed with loss. The journal was everything that happened since Robin awoke with no memories. It was his life story. Every ruined page was like whatever memory he had recorded never existed now that he wasn't around, like parts of his life were forever gone. Everything she could read was precious.

Lucina saw his first meeting with the Shepards and their fight in Arena Ferox. Curiosity lead Lucina to look more closely whenever she, or in the case of the beginning entries the "masked man", was present at the time. She found Emmeryn's attempted assassination, during which her actual gender was revealed. Robin didn't speak of her much, but the phrases she could pick out before the page crumbled away, or more specifically two words, stood out.

_The masked man who has been helping us isn't a man at all. She is actually a remarkable swordswoman and incredibly beautiful... _

Incredibly beautiful. That's what he thought she was! The two words alone were enough to warm her heart. She knew it was childish to think so, but she couldn't help it. She needed to know more about what he really thought of her. The burnt pages now filled her with even more despair. What if he had said something important about his feelings for her and now it was lost?

The entries didn't stop once the Mad King had fallen and the Plegian war was over. There were anecdotes of enjoyable times with Chrom and the rest of the Shepards, events that she had never heard of before and was now receiving in fragmented pieces.

_Gaius got caught stealing a whole cake from the kitchen again._

_Vaike challenged Chrom to a belching contest today. Chrom lost._

_Sumia found out that she is pregnant with her first child._

_Chrom and Sumia's baby daughter came into the world today. Her name is Lucina._

She was relieved that she hadn't missed it. The entry marked the first time Robin wrote her name. Lucina touched the word and traced the elegant letters with her finger, just as she had done with the letter Robin had left her; the handwriting was the exact same on each. It seemed like the journal was now directly addressing her, as if she was Robin's target audience even though she knew it was just her imagination.

Lucina found the approximate date of when she had finally revealed herself to be Chrom's future daughter on Carrion Isle. Unfortunately, the entry marked a huge set of pages that were even worse off than the previous. They were horribly scorched and many of the ones that weren't completely burnt were coated in ash, but words still clung to the torn paper as if holding on until she had the chance to see them.

_...she's Chrom's daughter..._

_...not my place..._

_...I could never... but, I can't help what I..._

As little as the fragments of sentences told her, Lucina could hardly mask her excitement. Robin had loved her, and he just hadn't said anything for a long time. _Thank the gods this proves me wrong, _Lucina sighed, happy to know for certain that his feelings were sincere and weren't a ruse like she had claimed the other night. Lucina found herself flipping past the rest of the entries searching for the night when he had brought her dinner. It had been the first time that they had really talked together. She couldn't believe her luck when she found the most recent entries to be relatively untouched. She would finally get to know everything that he really thought about her!

The entries were there, but again her hope was crushed. They were farther spaced out and not on the days that she was searching for. He had written nothing about their dinner, her getting injured, and not even their first kiss. Why? It was like the book was playing a sick joke on her. Lucina desperately searched over and over, but could not find any of the dates she wanted except one: the day he had taken her out on their first date. The entry was incredibly short at first glance, but just as she was beginning to have her doubts again of whether Robin really did care, she read the passage and immediately got the sense that it was more important than anything else she had seen.

_My headaches are becoming worse in both their frequency and strength. I cannot control them anymore, and now I live in fearful anticipation of when the next one will strike. The one that attacked me today would have been the worst I had ever experienced so far, but she was there. I was able to hold on to her to keep me from being sucked into the darkness that has been plaguing me. She gives me a strength that keeps me fighting._

Robin had mentioned her directly, and in a way that she had never known of before. _She gives me a strength that keeps me fighting. _She had already discovered before that Robin gave _her_ strength, but she never knew that she had the same effect on him. She turned back to the pages she had skipped, and the same phrases began to jump out at her more than they had before. Each time she saw the word "headaches" it was linked with feelings of fear, aloneness, and lack of control.

_The headache that I got... was one of the same kind that he's been getting, _Lucina suddenly realized in horror as she began to flip through the pages more frantically. His headaches aren't just painful. They were torture... His brilliant mind was being tortured every day and he had not once sought help or relief because he didn't want to bother anyone.

"Robin..." she whimpered silently, not caring if her mother heard her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She flipped past the entry where he had talked about her to find a page covered in scratched-out words and sentences. Upon closer inspection, she realized that they were all meant to start apologies. He must have not liked how any of them sounded. Behind that page, there were two clearly missing, having been torn from the binding of the book. _My father's letter and mine. All the crossing out that I had seen him do before I approached him... That book and this are one and the same!_

The next full page made her gasp out loud. In quivering handwriting, he had written:

_I know who I am. My name is Robin. I am a tactician for the Shepherds. Chrom found me lying with no memories in a field. The things that the voice in my head tells me are lies. My allegiance lies with the Shepherds, my real family. I can't forget._

"No, no..." Lucina whispered as if she was speaking to Robin himself and not his journal. His words from before they had entered Plegia Castle came back to her, ones that she hadn't understood but now made perfect sense.

"No matter what happens in there... I'll be there for you. I... I need you to promise me that you won't forget that. And also... promise... that you'll remind me if I forget."

He had been asking her for help, to keep him sane. And what he had said when she had tried to end his life... The tone of his voice and the look in his eyes... She thought he had only been referring to her, but he was talking about what he felt himself as well.

"Because feeling alone, and not feeling like you belong, is such a... terribly sad feeling..."

Sumia stirred, realizing that her fears were becoming true, and became more alert. Lucina desperately flipped through the next few pages. The writing was becoming less and less like a journal entry and more like a one-sided argument, one that Robin was clearly losing.

_Stop telling me lies! You can't strip my identity!_

"Don't say these things, Robin! You're scaring me!"

_Do I belong with the Shepherds? Am I fit to stand with Chrom after what I've done?_

"Yes, you are! It wasn't your fault!"

_I... I don't know..._

Lucina flipped to the final entry, and realized she couldn't bear it anymore and started to cry. Sumia stood up from the chair and walked over to her bed, sitting down next to her like she had a few hours ago. She tried to delicately remove the journal from her daughter's hands so she wouldn't have to see it anymore, but Lucina refused to let her take the book and clung to it tightly, not turning away from Robin's last written words. In massive, shaky letters, the page asked her:

_WHO AM I?_

"I know who you are...," Lucina spoke as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I know who you are! If you were here I could tell you!" she screamed.

"Lucina, it's okay..." Sumia whispered.

"No! No, Mother! It isn't okay!" Lucina wept. "I need to tell him that he's smart and kind and compassionate and amazing and he puts other people first and that he's the man I love and the man I took for granted!"

"Oh, Lucina..." Sumia puts her arms around Lucina's shoulders and pulled her in closer to her. Lucina didn't care what her mother thought about her feelings anymore.

"He only showed me kindness and I was selfish! He showered me with love and I drowned him in hatred! He's being tortured, Mother! He's in pain and I could have helped him but I pushed him away! What have I done?!"

All Sumia could do was hold her daughter close. "Let it out, Lucina."

"I... I just want this horrible war to be over, and... and I want Robin here with me!" she choked between sobs. "Is that too much to ask? I just want us to be happy! That's all I want!"

"I know," her mother soothed. "I know."

"And now he... he thinks I hate him! He's out there alone and scared and thinks I hate him because I was a stupid fool! I should be the one alone! It should have been me!"

"Lucina, don't say that..."

"It's true, Mother! It's true! All I've ever done is push people away for things they didn't do! All for something that hasn't happened yet! Curse the future! It's turned me into nothing but a heartless beast!"

"Lucina! That isn't who you are!" Sumia was beginning to grow angry. "You came to this time to save millions of people! Millions! You are not heartless. You're a noble princess with incredible intentions and a beautiful heart!"

"A princess? Ha!" Lucina shouted incredulously. "Princesses have stories with happy endings. I'm doomed to a world of loneliness and suffering. Nothing I do will change that!"

Sumia seized Lucina's arms and squeezed them tightly to quiet her. "Then what has everything that you've said before mean? You came here because you _don't _believe in destiny! You wanted to change your fate! Was that a lie?"

Lucina fearfully stared at her mother with teary, wide eyes. She opened her mouth to speak and found that her voice was very small. "No..."

"Then who's to say that Robin can't change his fate as well? Even if he is Chrom's killer in another time! Things are different! They can change!" Sumia eyes burned with an intensity that Lucina had never imagined possible in her mother. "You and Robin can and will be happy! You can change the future together!"

"He'll never forgive me, Mother! It wasn't his fault and I blamed it for it! He'll never be able to love me again!"

"You did what you believed to be right. I know Robin, Lucina. He'll understand. Robin isn't the kind of person to hold grudges," Sumia's powerful voice reassured. "It makes sense to me now. The way he acted around you, the things he said about you, the things he wrote about you...," she gestured to the journal. "He loves you very much, Lucina, and you love him. You and Robin have something very special, and that bond won't be broken so easily."

"Invisible ties..." The tactician's words came to Lucina's mouth. "Robin said that we aren't pawns of a scripted fate. That we're more than that."

"Exactly, Lucina. Don't you see now? Robin knows there's no such thing as predetermined destiny, and so do you," Sumia let go of Lucina's arms and stood to her full height. "We are going to end this war, and we are going to build the life that you and Robin deserve no matter how long it takes! Is that what you want?"

"Yes..."

"Then promise me that that's what you'll fight for. That you'll fight for what you believe in."

"I promise, Mother."

"Good," Sumia sounded reassured and picked up her lantern from Lucina's bedside. "Now you get some sleep. As soon as we find what we're looking for in the Ruins of Time, we're going straight to find Validar and put an end him and his plans once and for all." She pushed away the tent flap to leave, pausing briefly to remind her of something. "Oh, and Lucina? Then you can feel like the princess you deserve to be," her mother smiled before slipping out of the tent and into the rain.

Lucina watched her go until she completely disappeared, then stood and took a long look at the journal she held cradled in her hands. It could have let itself be destroyed, but the book had held on. Robin's memories were still here. She solemnly pledged to remind him of every single one again if she had to when he came back, and that she wasn't going to let him feel alone or scared either, just like he had told her. It was her new mission.

"I will win this war for you, Robin," she whispered into the night. "And I'm going to bring you home. Things are going to change."

* * *

><p><strong>Are all the strange things that Robin has said throughout the past few chapters starting to make sense? I said to pay attention to it for a reason! Lucina is far more important to him than she originally thought, and she's finally beginning to understand that a little too late. Without knowing it, she has essentially been giving him a reason to fight his headaches to keep himself sane. But now that he isn't around her or the rest of the Shepherds, we can see him slowly starting to succumb...<strong>

**Ahh sorry, Morgan appears next chapter I promise!**


	13. Disowned by Time

_In which the Shepherds arrive at the Ruins of Time and Lucina meets a familiar face_

* * *

><p>Chapter 13 – Disowned by Time<p>

"There it is," Chrom muttered under his breath, looking a short ways up the face of the cliff. "I should have known this wasn't going to easy..."

Just as Frederick had described, the Ruins of Time only took a day's march to reach, and after camping a short distance away for the night, the Shepherds were preparing to enter. Whoever constructed the shrine thousands of years ago had not been lax in pursuing aesthetic beauty, a quality that was still reflected in the architecture even after time took its toll. The structure was built into the side of a small mountain, and Lucina could only assume that it stretched even deeper into the earth and was far larger than it appeared from the outside. The pale, reflexive stone that composed the structure rose up out of the clear water from a natural spring, which must have been the result of years of rainfall that pooled around the ruins. Combined with the thin layer of fog that lingered around the area, the shrine certainly gave off a mystic feel, one that made Lucina's skin tingle with silent awe.

The only blemish on the otherwise spectacular view was the fact that the entire shrine was infested with Risen soldiers. Even from far away, Lucina could see them hobbling with uneven steps through the courtyard and in and out of doorways. Even the air around them was tainted with the black smoke that the creatures emitted from their mouths. According to Laurent, who had been able to study Risen quite personally in their future, the creatures, being corpses, didn't actually have to breathe. He surmised that the smoke was a trace of the dark force that animated the monsters which leaked out whenever their mouths opened. Lucina couldn't care less about how the monsters worked; she only knew that they had to be destroyed.

"Why would such filthy creatures infiltrate a shrine to Naga?" Lucina scowled as she wondered out loud. "They don't belong here, or anywhere for that matter."

"Maybe they came here for the same reason we did," Sumia walked up in between her and Chrom.

"You're probably right..." Chrom took his eyes off the ruins. "We'd better get moving then. We don't want the Risen to find Naga's Tear before we do." He raised his voice to address the whole army. "Shepherds! Prepare for battle! We're going to enter the ruins!"

There were some whispered complaints amongst the army about having to climb to reach the shrine, but the Shepherds did as they were told and began their march up the mountainside. Even though Sumia could have flown up of her pegasus, she chose to walk along with Lucina instead. Lucina appreciated her company, even more so now that she understood what she was going through.

"How are you feeling today, Lucina?"

"I'm a little better, thank you Mother," Lucina gave a smile of reassurance, relieved that she didn't have to lie about her feelings for once. She had read Robin's journal a few more times after her mother had left, taking care to look over the pages she had skimmed at first more closely so she knew exactly what he had experienced and what he was facing now. She wanted to know exactly how to help him when he came back, and every word that she read in the burnt book worked to paint a picture of his mental state.

"That's good," Sumia sighed in relief, then looked back up at the ruins in thought. "Lucina, I know that this is sort of a strange question, but what do you think the Risen were like before they were monsters?"

Lucina cocked her head to one side. "What do mean, Mother?"

"I mean, do you think that they were always monsters, or do you think that they're all people, just like us?" her mother asked softly.

"They _were_ people," Lucina corrected with a grimace. "I've seen a man become a Risen before my very eyes in my future. With each and every one of our allies who fell in battle, the enemy army grew in number. They aren't people anymore. They're horrible creatures that know nothing but killing."

Sumia didn't seem to be satisfied with her response. "That's sad..."

"Mother, don't tell me you're feeling bad for the Risen. You've fought them countless times before. They don't _feel _anything."

"But what if it just seems that way? What if they still want to be human too? What if they just want to belong?" Sumia's voice was quiet and contemplative.

"Mother, you can't be serious... They go to places that people congregate to slaughter them, not make friends. They're heartless."

"But maybe, beneath whatever evil is controlling them, there's still some trace of made them human left? What if they don't want to fight us but they're forced to? Maybe they're just... lonely," Sumia wondered in an almost dreamy state.

Lucina still didn't understand. "What made you think of that, Mother?"

"I'm sorry," her mother snapped out of her strange musing. "I was just thinking about how Robin might be feeling with being lonely, that's all. You told me earlier that you wanted to keep his journal so you knew exactly how he felt, so maybe I could give you some ideas." She saw Lucina become tense at the mention of Robin's absence, so she tried to end the conversation. "Think nothing of it, Lucina. Just some rambling from your crazy mother, that's all. I know how much devastation the Risen caused in your future. I got a little carried away in my theory..."

Lucina frowned at what her mother had said. It was like Sumia had shed a new light on the monsters that had plagued her world, but she couldn't start feeling bad for them now. Fortunately, her mother's next statement made her feel better.

"Who knows?" Sumia laughed to lighten the mood. "Maybe by defeating them we're actually freeing them. That would be nice to think about."

"Yes... That would be nice," Lucina agreed. "We're ending the suffering of the fallen. I... never thought about that way before, Mother. It's like I'm helping the friends that I lost find peace."

"Maybe your crazy mother isn't as crazy as she thinks," Sumia laughed again. "Now let's go liberate the dead, shall we?"

"Right," Lucina found herself laughing along with her. "Just promise to treat them as seriously as we always do and not to start a conversation with one mid-battle, okay Mother? They're still our enemies."

"No promises," Sumia joked.

* * *

><p>Along with the rest of the Shepherds, Lucina entered the Ruins of Time alert and with blade ready. Even if the Risen still had anything human left in them, they were still dangerous. Lucina actually heard the creatures before she saw them; their heavy, uneven footsteps were amplified by the shrine's corridors and echoed down the halls. Their moans alone were enough to put the hairs on the back of her neck on end, but not because they were frightening; there was little that could scare Lucina anymore after what she had experienced in her future. With the echo from the shrine, the Risen sounded less wrathful and more... melancholic.<p>

Slowly, a set of two, unblinking red eyes pushed their way out of the fog, wobbling uneasily with the creature's stride. One by one the first pair was joined by many others, all darting around like a swarm of bees in the darkness. The Shepherds halted their advance and assumed their battle positions, waiting until the creatures' full silhouettes took shape. As they got closer, Lucina found that there _was_ something that frightened her about these Risen. They weren't moaning, but speaking collectively the same phrase. Yarne and Noire screamed in terror from somewhere in the crowd, and Lucina for a brief moment considered doing the same.

"Kill future child..." they hissed. "Must... kill... future child..."

"Did they know we were coming?" Chrom growled, unsheathing his Falchion and taking a step nearer to her. "Lucina, stay close..."

She briefly looked back into the Shepherds' ranks and saw that the other parents taken on a more defensive posture in front of their children as well. Were these Risen... hunting her and her friends? She didn't want to take the time to find out.

The swarm bellowed an unearthly roar that seemed to shake the corridor, then immediately charged with alarming speed. A few of the Shepherds erupted into battle cries of their own as they met their attackers, the adrenaline of battle searing through their bodies. The first clash of weapons rang out, metal against metal, with dozens more sounding a second later.

Lucina rushed forward, slicing one creature across the chest before withdrawing her blade and plunging it through the torso of another. Catching an incoming attack out of her peripheral vision, she turned to her right and held up Falchion to counter an axe swing. Lucina exploited the other weapon's weight, shoving it aside to throw the creature off balance then severing its arm, which dissolved into dust as the axe could hit the ground. Before she could finish the Risen off, she was forced to divert her attention to another wielding a shortsword that approached her from behind. Lucina parried its strike with ease, pulling back Falchion to counterattack when again she sensed an attack from behind. She recoiled her arm fast enough to prevent serious injury, but too late to prevent the axe swing from nicking her forearm and drawing blood. The Risen she had attacked apparently believed that an arm for an arm was the only proper trade, and it had picked up its axe in its other hand and was already preparing for another strike.

Lucina slipped past the attack and in the few split seconds she had to recover tried to come up with a strategy for taking her two assailants on at once. Risen never worked in tandem with each other or employed any kind of strategy if they had no leader; they preferred overwhelming their enemies with sheer numbers. For these two to exploit her blind spots together proved that they were being controlled by a much more powerful force, which wasn't exactly the most reassuring knowledge for Lucina in her current situation. Ignoring the cut on her arm, she backed away from immediate danger. The two monsters advanced on her, approaching from opposite directions so that if she were to face one, the other would have a clear strike. The one armed Risen charged her, and Lucina knew she had no choice but to counter it even though it left her back exposed. Unlike before, the Risen refused to be pushed aside so easily after Lucina blocked its axe, and it held its ground in an attempt to overpower her. She was losing precious seconds in the struggle, and she could hear her other assailant's approaching footsteps getting ever closer.

In a burst of strength, Lucina angled the axe just away from her body then pulled Falchion away immediately, causing the weapon to crash to the ground next to her and throw up chunks of stone tile. It gave her just the right amount of time to thrust Falchion into the creature's chest, and it dissolved into smoke before it had the chance to lift its weapon again. Whipping around, Lucina yelped in surprise to find the other Risen already directly behind her, sword held up to attack. She had no time to put up Falchion in defense. _I can't go down here! Not yet!_

As she braced herself her the worst, a blade erupted out of the Risen's torso, halting its finishing blow just inches above her head. The creature stared down for a moment at the weapon protruding from its chest, withdrawing its arm before it dropping its sword and disappearing in a burst of smoke. As the dark cloud cleared, Lucina discovered the unmistakable man at the other end of the weapon.

"Made it jus' in time, Miss Your Royalness," the man sighed in relief as he pushed the pot he wore as a helmet back into place on his head. "You ain't hurt too bad, are ya?"

"Donnel!" Lucina was shocked to realize to had rescued her. "I...I'm okay thank you," she stuttered.

"Ya sure? That coulda been ugly," he winced, withdrawing his spear.

"Yes, I'm okay now..."

Donnel turned to joined the fight again, but Lucina felt obligated to apologize. "I'm sorry about what happened in Valm!"

The young man looked confused before his memory kicked in. "Aw shucks, don't you be goin' and worryin' bout that none," he smiled and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I knows you was just tryin' to protect yer pa."

"Thank you... for not being mad at my rashness."

"Naw, no problem. We're all in this together, right? Now we gots a battle to win!" Donnel reassured before gripping his spear and charging back into the Risen horde.

The farm boy was right. Lucina regained her composure and tightened her grip on Falchion, rejoining the Shepherds in the attack. The Risen numbers had already been significantly decreased, but the creatures still fought with intensity and small groups of them continued to stream out of the hallways. They were still groaning on and on, "Kill future child... Kill... future... child." It was terribly unsettling, and Lucina wanted to end the fight quickly.

"Father!" she called out amongst the chaos. "I'll block off one of the corridors so they can't get through!"

"Good idea!" her father cried back, slashing through the bandaged chest of another monster. "Be careful!"

Lucina fought her way over to one of the hallways, cutting down the Risen as they attempted to join their companions in the entrance hall. She wasn't about to let herself get cornered by them again, and took greater care to watch their movements and counter their blows when they attempted to team up on her.

As Lucina cut down another axe-wielding creature, she heard a roar that echoed from the other side of the corridor. The small Risen group she was fighting all turned their heads in the direction of the noise, as if it was beckoning them to follow it. Lucina took advantage of their distraction, cutting the remainder of the Risen around her down within a few seconds. She herself then turned down the corridor, and thought she saw a cloaked figure being pursued by another group of Risen run past the doorway and disappear down another hallway. Lucina had to rub her eyes with her free hand. It couldn't be possible, but she found herself running down the hallway after the person as fast as her legs could manage.

She must have been seeing things, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the figure had been wearing a familiar black and gold coat... Could he possibly have come here? It had to be him. He had come back for her, and now he needed her help! Lucina could feel her excitement of seeing him again building and giving her strength to keep running at top speed after the Risens' footsteps. Following the sound through another doorway, she found her in a massive, open room where the ceiling had crumbled away, allowing the fog from outside to pour into the shrine. Straining her eyes, she caught the figure again being chased into another hallway at the opposite end of the room. There was no mistaking it now. It was definitely Robin's coat.

"Robin!" Lucina cried at the top of her lungs, but he couldn't hear her from so far away. She grunted in annoyance and broke into a sprint again, trying to catch up with him and his pursuers. The sound of footsteps led her deeper into the ruins, weaving in and out of different rooms and passageways. Getting back wasn't her concern now. She had to get to him.

Finally, Lucina emerged into a smaller room to find Robin backed into a corner, being closed in on all sides by a group of five Risen. She couldn't see his face, for his cowl was pulled up and cast a shadow over his features, but she could tell he was desperate. He hadn't seemed to have noticed her yet, and he revealed an Elfire tome from inside his coat to confront the monsters. Opening the tome, he released a stream of fire from his hand that struck the closest Risen and disintegrated it almost immediately on contact. The creatures paid no mind to their fallen comrade and continued to advance on him. He didn't have the time to cast another spell.

Lucina lunged forward in rage, slashing one of the Risen down the middle with Falchion and stabbing another from behind. Robin used the time to let out another stream of magic, lighting the two remaining creatures on fire. Lucina finished the Risen off with a horizontal slice of her blade, and the two monsters burst into flaming dust.

"Are... you... okay?" Lucina huffed as she tried to catch her breath, sheathing Falchion at her hip.

"I'm okay, thank you!" The voice that responded made Lucina freeze, unable to breathe. She let go of Falchion's hilt and slowly turned to face the person she had rescued. It was Robin's coat, but the voice wasn't his... And why did he seem so much shorter than she remembered?

"You're... not... Robin..." The words gradually came to her lips, but her mind was racing as to who it could be.

The figure dropped the tome and suddenly cried out excitedly in a distinctly feminine voice.

"You know Robin?!" the figure asked eagerly at the very mention of the name, and then reached up to pull down the cowl of the coat. Lucina took a step back in shock as she was greeted by a whirl of blue hair and the face of a young girl, probably around sixteen or so in age.

"My name is Morgan!" the girl told her happily. "Robin is my father!"

Lucina stared at the girl dumbfounded, jaw slowly dropping open. She could only manage a weak "What?" in response.

"Robin is my father," the girl replied again, looking somewhat childishly peeved that she had to repeat herself again. "I was just walking with him just a little while ago... and then I guess I must have fallen asleep or something because when I woke up, I was here and he... wasn't here..." She scrunched up her nose as if she had just smelt something terrible and made a little pout. "I... I can't remember what happened..." She contorted her face more and pressed her fingers to her temples. "I'm trying... to remember... but... I... can't..." she sighed, giving up in her endeavor.

Lucina still couldn't believe her ears. What the girl was telling her was impossible: Robin didn't have a future daughter, or a child at all for that matter. She knew for certain that the girl hadn't come with her and her friends through the portal that Naga had opened for them in the future either.

"We're... talking about the same Robin, right?" Lucina's voice was still small. She had been hoping that she would get to see Robin again, and all she found was this girl who was posing as his daughter. It couldn't be possible. "A little taller than me? Silvery, white hair? Tactician? Loves books?"

"Yep, yep, yep, and yep. That's my dad," the girl replied as she retrieved her tome from the ground and tucked it away. "Oh wait!" she shouted out loudly, making Lucina flinch in surprise . "I do remember something else! From what you just said! I've been training to become a master tactician, just like him! He told me when I was little..." The girl whipped out her pointer finger and posed as if she was instructing an invisible student, then in what Lucina assumed to be her best imitation Robin voice, the girl said, "Morgan, you're going to make a fine tactician one day." She dropped the act and grinned. "That's what he said. Did I sound like him? I can remember his voice really well!"

She must be lying. What she was saying still didn't make any sense...

"No... No, that can't be true," Lucina reasoned. "Where did you get that coat? You must have stolen it from him! Where is he?" she asked frantically.

The girl looked hurt at her accusations and responded in defense. "Hey, I didn't steal it! Father was letting me wear it when I lost him! I have his Mark too, see?" The girl held up the back of her left hand to expose the very same Mark of Grima that Robin had.

Lucina still was not convinced and shifted her gaze down to the lower right side of the coat. Sure enough, the tea stain was still there, right where she had spilled it what seemed like so many weeks ago. "If you're Robin's... daughter," Lucina asked. "Then would you happen to know where that stain came from?"

The girl lifted up her right arm so that she could get a better glimpse at what Lucina was referring to. She was silent for a moment, glaring intensely at the stain and looking like she was deep in thought, then her face lit up. "Oh! I think I remember that too! Wow, I'm pretty good at remembering things already!" She was quick to comment on her own success before replying. "Father said that Mother spilled some tea on it!"

Mother spilled some tea on it. Mother. The word consumed Lucina's shocked mind. She was the one... who spilled the tea... so that would make the girl... "No, it can't..." she repeated again out loud as she examined the girl more closely. Now that she thought about it, the girl's hair was the same shade of cobalt blue as her own...

As reading her thought, the girl remarked, "Hey, we have the same hair color! Isn't that funny?" She laughed, apparently finding the similarity quite amusing.

Lucina leaned down and looked the girl straight in the eyes. They were Robin's auburn brown. Now that Lucina thought about it, all of the girl's facial features were so much like Robin's as well. It was like she staring right into the face of the man she loved, only it wasn't him. In taking another glimpse of Robin's, no, her eyes, she found something that made her jaw drop. Like she was looking through a mirror, the Mark of Naga in Lucina's left eye was perfectly reflected in the girl's right.

"You..." Lucina gasped. "You have my Brand... In your eye..."

"I do?" the girl asked in astonishment, touching her own right cheek. "Hey... You have it in your eye too," she realized, taking a careful look at the mark in Lucina's eye. "But then..." The girl broke eye contact, staring far into the distance as the gears in her head began spinning furiously. "You have the same mark as me... and we have the same hair color... and you came to rescue me..." she reasoned. "So then that means... You must be..." The girl's brown eyes went wide, and the Brand in her right seemed to brighten as a wide smile quickly overtook her face.

"Mother!"

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><p><strong>Lucina has assumed immediate freak out mode... or is it mother mode? Aren't the two the same thing?<strong>

**Ahhh, Morgan is finally a part of this story! I've wanted her to come in as much as you guys, but... I'm also a tease and leave you at that cliffhanger nyaha...**

**Ok, story stuff: Donnel makes a surprise cameo! I wanted it to be him who saves Lucina especially now that her life decisions are changing as a little reminder that everyone is looking out for each other and that the farm boy she previously thought of as incompetent isn't such a bad guy after all. She didn't apologize to him sooner because it slipped her mind with all the Robin things going on. Donnel also accepts the apology for her mistake without any second thought, which reminds her yet again that some people deserve to get another chance for their mistakes *cough Robin even though she knows that now cough***

**The tea stain makes another appearance, and one of its primary purposes for it was actually in this scene! Almost as a confirmation for Lucina, because she's the only one who could have possibly both spilled tea on the coat and passed down the Brand to Morgan (as technically Cynthia could have passed down the blue hair and Brand as well...). It served quite well in making Lucina really embarrassed at the time, and now it's like a constant reminder of everything they've gone through. Also Robin hasn't attempted to remove it, so I guess he likes it there. Maybe it reminds him of Lucina too.  
><strong>

**Speaking of the Brand, or should I say Brands, if you didn't notice Morgan's two are opposite of her parents: The Mark of Naga/Brand of the Exalt in Lucina's left eye is in Morgan's right, and the Mark of Grima on Robin's right hand is on Morgan's left. Mini headcanon there. I considered "blending" the two Marks together so that they overlapped, which also is what my author's icon is meant to be! My name dualbloodlines is actually a reference to Lucina!Morgan having both the Divine and Fell bloodlines at once! I decided on the opposite-of-parents idea though for this story at least - I thought it would give Lucina a more personal connection to Morgan by having just the Brand in her eye.**

**By the way, it seems like we've hit over 100 followers and almost 80 favorites to this story already and I wanted to say thanks to all you guys who have taken the time to read/review/favorite/follow! It's really encouraged me to keep up with posting a chapter every week, and I hope you'll enjoy the upcoming Morgan chapters!**


	14. Mother

_In which Lucina becomes a parent and wonders how she can keep the secret a secret_

* * *

><p>Chapter 14 – Mother<p>

"Mother!" The girl froze in place for a second, the sheer excitement reflected in her expression seemingly incapacitating her, and then lunged herself directly at Lucina to wrap her into a massive hug.

Lucina threw up her arms in surprise of the sudden physical contact, and she opened her mouth to protest but couldn't find the will to do so. The girl was still a complete stranger and Lucina's immediate instinct was to throw her off, but a feeling she had never experienced before told her to accept the embrace.

Lightening her grip slightly, the girl tore her face away from Lucina's tunic and looked up at her, eyes watery with joyous tears. "I knew it! I knew you would come back for me, Mother! I knew you would never leave me alone!" She shook her head and gave a small laugh before pulling Lucina back into the hug. "I want you to stay with me forever, Mother!"

Despite her mind still reeling from what the girl had proclaimed, Lucina found herself slowly surrendering her defensive posture. Gradually she relaxed her arms and returned the girl's... Morgan's embrace, and she was surprised at how uncannily similar the experience felt to her own reunion with Chrom. Her response seemed to comfort Morgan even more, and she sighed happily before finally releasing Lucina from her grip. She reached up to wipe her eyes, and then she pushed a strand of blue hair off her face before excitedly beginning to speak again.

"This is so great! Now that I've found you, we can both go back to Father and we can all be a family again, right Mother?"

Lucina winced in guilt at the question, having forgotten for just a brief moment that Robin wasn't around to go back to. Looking down at Morgan's expectant face, she immediately realized that she wouldn't have the heart to tell her why he was actually gone. "About that..." she began, trying to carefully phrase her response. "Your father... isn't here at the moment. He's... on a special mission."

"W...what? But... but I really wanted to see him!" Morgan's cheery expression soon became one of utter disappointment, and some of the color in her cheeks paled. "He... he's all can really remember," she spoke in a soft voice, as if she was on the verge of tears again. "I t...thought he would be looking for me..."

"Don't cry!" Lucina blurted out, frantically trying to think of anything comforting to tell her. "...Because that's what his mission was! He told me that he was going to go look for you, and that he might be gone for a few days while he searched. I... just happened to find you first." As if the guilt for not being able to bring the girl to Robin wasn't enough, the shame of lying to her innocent face was almost unbearable. From the moment the words left her mouth Lucina knew that the temporary relief that they might bring the girl would not last long at all.

"R...really?" Morgan sniffled and allowed a smile to creep its way back onto her lips. "That's my dad! He's always doing what's best for me!"

"Y...yes, he is," Lucina attempted a smile of her own despite her growing dread that her agreement was only setting the girl up for even greater disappointment.

"I can wait a little bit longer to see him. I'm okay now that you're with me, Mother!" Morgan chirped and took Lucina's hand. "Where are we going to go then? Back home I hope." She paused, staring blankly into space before asking, "But... where _is _home again, Mother? I... can't remember..."

"You can't... remember? Do you have amnesia? Did you hit your head on something?" Lucina asked in concern.

"I don't think so..." Morgan reasoned. "All I remember is waking up on the ground in these ruins. And a lot of things about Father too, but that's pretty much it."

"That's exactly like what happened to your father," Lucina reminisced.

"Father woke up on the ground without any memories either? Ha! That's so funny!" Morgan laughed. "Like father like daughter, huh? We're so much alike!"

She _was _so much like Robin, Lucina realized as she looked the girl over again from head to toe. It wasn't just Robin's coat she was wearing, but almost a perfect replica of his usual outfit, and even the girl's confident posture was just like her father's. What struck her the most was that apart from the Brand, Morgan's auburn eyes were identical to Robin's. Every time Lucina looked into them she saw not the girl but Robin's gazing back at her with the same gentle expression that she had come to associate with so many of her happy memories. Despite the pleasant feeling it evoked, it only made Lucina long for Robin's return more.

"I'm sure you'll remember soon," Lucina reassured. "But I'm not sure if we'll be able to go home right away..." She turned back in the direction from whence she had come, danger senses tingling. "We may have to fight our way out. Do you know how to use a weapon?"

"I know magic!" Morgan reminded her, pulling her tome out of the inside of Robin's coat. "Father showed me how to cast it. He said to focus really hard and to channel the energy through your whole body all the way out to your fingertips, and then you release it all at once! Pretty cool, huh?"

"It _is_ a fascinating skill," Lucina agreed with a smile and motioned for the girl to follow her as she started walking. "A skill quite difficult to master." She was beginning to find the girl's cheerfulness to be infectious.

"Yeah! It was really tough at first, but I think I get the hang of it now. Do you know how to do magic, Mother? I bet Father could show you if you wanted to learn. He's a really good teacher." Morgan tucked the tome away again and hurried over to Lucina's side. "Has Father taught you anything special, Mother?"

"He has..." Lucina replied after some thought. How to fall in love was just one of things that he had showed her. How to not act out of prejudice and attempt something awful wasn't. "I don't think that magic is my cup of tea though," she told the girl, trying not to dwell on Robin too much for the moment. "I much prefer the art of the sword."

Morgan peered at the sheath that Lucina had strapped to her hip. "You have a really powerful-looking sword, Mother," she mentioned. "Where did you get it? Was it a gift from Father?"

"No," Lucina shook her head. "My blade is the divine sword Falchion." She withdrew the sword and held it up for the girl to see. "It was forged thousands of years ago, and after it was imbued with the power of the Divine Dragon herself, it was granted the ability to never break or dull. It's been passed down through the Exalted Bloodline ever since. It was inherited by my father, the current Exalt, who passed it on to me." She took a few short swings at the air with Falchion before sheathing it again.

"Wait, your father is the Exalt? So that makes you a princess?" Morgan's eyes widened in awe.

"Yes, I'm the princess of Ylisse," Lucina confirmed.

"Wow... My mother is a princess! That's so cool!" Morgan exclaimed, squeezing Lucina's hand tighter. "I bet you're the nicest and most thoughtful princess that the world has ever seen, because, I mean, you're my mother, so you've gotta be."

"Thank you, Morgan," Lucina smiled but wasn't entirely sure that Morgan's flattery was justified. And being called "Mother" wasn't getting any easier to get used to. "That technically makes you a princess too you know," she added.

"Oh yeah, it does doesn't it? Will that make me the world's first princess tactician?" Morgan asked excitedly.

"I don't see why not," Lucina laughed softly. Emerging from the corridor, she found that they had arrived in the large, open room again. She found nothing after quickly surveying the room, but didn't like the feeling it was giving her. "Stay close," she whispered in a more serious tone, to which the girl dutifully obeyed. Lucina expected to hear the enemy approaching from the other hallways, but the only sounds were those of her and Morgan's footsteps echoing off the walls as they walked.

"Watch out, Mother!" Morgan cried out in surprise and let go of Lucina's hand, giving her a powerful shove away.

"Morgan, what..." Lucina began to ask angrily why the girl had pushed her until she realized that they were no longer alone. A massive form crashed into the ground behind her, sending her sprawling forward and knocking Morgan to the floor. Lucina rose to her feet immediately and turned to find a Risen mount with an armored griffon mount standing where she had been a split second ago.

The animal shrieked and unfurled its feathery wings to make itself look larger and more menacing. Lucina's mind was consumed by the single realization that it had cut her off from Morgan, and she immediately drew Falchion and charged. The Risen that sat on the griffon's back twisted its head at her, and then it commanded its mount to pounce forward, covering more distance faster than Lucina had anticipated. Mid-sprint, she crouched to build up power then leapt off the ground, holding Falchion over her head to strike the rider. Just as she was about to bring her blade down into the monster's skull, the Risen lashed out with a surprisingly accurate swing of its axe, easily countering her attack in mid-air and forcing her to land.

Using the momentum from its first swing, the creature brought down its weapon in one fluid motion on Lucina again. Holding Falchion horizontally above her with two hands, Lucina blocked the strike, but the Risen continued to force the clashed weapons down over her head. She immediately adapted her grip in an attempt to push back, keeping her right hand firm on Falchion's hilt while pressing the palm of her left hand against the flat edge of the blade, but even with her improved stance she realized that her attacker was far stronger than she was in terms of physical strength. Lucina felt her knees beginning to buckle under the sheer weight being forced on her, and in her vulnerable state hardly had time to react when the griffon lashed out and kicked her directly in the chest with one of its bird-like frontal legs. The sudden blow knocked the wind out of her lungs and threw her to the ground a few feet away.

Lucina groaned in agony and tried to roll herself over, but she felt too weak to even reach to her side and grab hold of Falchion, which had clattered to the floor next to her. The griffon was already standing over her before she could right herself, and she braced herself for another blow. Before the creature's axe could finish her off, a stream of fire sailed through the air and struck the griffon's back, causing the animal to cry out in pain and turn away from Lucina to face the source of the attack.

"Get away from my mother, you freak!" Morgan screamed loudly from the other side of the room, then let loose another fire burst from her hand. The magic soared over the griffon's head and dissipated in a small explosion against the opposing wall. Like the girl had hoped, the Risen turned its attention away from Lucina's crippled form and glared at its other attacker. The creature was motionless for a second, and then its red eyes gleamed intensely as it pointed a crooked finger at the girl.

"Future child..." the Risen growled in a raspy voice. "Must... kill... future child..."

Ignoring Lucina completely, the Risen instead commanded the griffon to pursue another target. The revelation hit Lucina harder than the griffon could ever have managed. The Risen hadn't come here for Naga's Tear. They had come for...

"Morgan!" Lucina weakly shouted, struggling to get herself back onto her feet.

"Mother!" the girl returned Lucina's call, voice reflective of her growing state of panic as the griffon approached. Like a predator stalking its prey, the animal prowled forward, forcing Morgan to retreat into a corner. Desperately she tried to cast another fireball, but had no time to aim properly and only succeeded in scorching a few of the griffon's feathers. The animal flailed its wings in front of itself in rage, knocking Morgan's tome from her hands in the process.

"Kill... Kill future child..."

The pain was nothing to Lucina now. Retrieving Falchion from the ground, she broke into a labored run.

"Morgan!"

"Help me, Mother!" the girl pleaded, finding all of her escape routes to be blocked off.

The griffon screeched loudly and rose onto its hind legs to a terrifying height, and at the top its rider held its axe ready for a killing blow on the all but defenseless girl, who could do nothing but cover her head with her hands.

"No!" Lucina screamed in both fear and anger. She couldn't allow anything to hurt her daughter. With adrenaline rushing through her body, Lucina channeled what remained of her strength into a desperate stab into the animal's hind leg, forcing her blade to drive as far into the flesh as it would allow. Immediately, crimson blood fizzled to the surface of the griffon's skin and it howled in agony, throwing its rider off its saddle. The Risen fell to the stone floor in a disorganized heap, and freeing Falchion from the griffon's leg, Lucina was not about to give it a chance to get back up. With the heel of her boot, she delivered a sharp kick to the creature in the face, causing its neck to twist around with a sickening crack. Finally, she held Falchion high in the air and brought the blade down through the monster's chest, pinning it to the ground.

"Kill..." the Risen gasped, emitting a burst of black smoke from its mouth before its body fell apart into shadowy dust.

The griffon lowered itself back down from its upright position, whimpering as it tucked its wounded leg closer to its body. As much as Lucina hated to have to hurt it, it had been her only option. When she tried to approach it, the animal looked at her fearfully and took a few flaps of its mighty wings to lift itself off the ground. With another weaker screech, it rose into the air, soaring out of sight through the caved-in ceiling. Lucina watched it leave in silence, trying to calm her heavy breathing as the pain in her chest was slowly becoming more apparent.

"Mother! Mother, are you okay?" Morgan asked frantically as she scrambled to her side. "Are you hurt?"

"It's not that bad..." Lucina replied. "I just... need to catch... my breath..."

The girl did not look convinced, nervously looking Lucina over to find any major injuries. "This is all my fault! I was careless... I promise I'll do better next time something like that happens, Mother!"

"It wasn't your fault, Morgan," Lucina spoke softly, easing her breathing rate. "I didn't see it coming either. You could have never predicted it."

"But that's what a tactician has to do... Take all possible dangerous scenarios into account to prepare for anything."

"Hey," Lucina put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You saved me, didn't you? If you didn't distract the griffon with your magic, I may not have lived its attack. I think you handled that situation pretty well."

Morgan looked up at her and smiled. "I guess I did... Thanks, Mother." She wrapped her arms around Lucina and gave her a quick embrace just to make sure that she was okay. "But you saved my life twice already! I have to be the one to save you next time so we can make it even, okay?"

"We'll see..." Lucina laughed, and then remembered the cut she had received from the battle near the entrance to the ruins. "Will it count if you help me with this scrape on my arm?" She held it out for the girl to see.

"Mother! That isn't a scrape! That's like, the biggest cut I've ever seen!" Morgan gasped. "Um... I think Father keeps some emergency bandages in here somewhere..." She rummaged through the inside pockets of Robin's coat. "Here they are!" She withdrew a roll of gauze and a long strip of cloth bandage.

Lucina pulled back the sleeve of her undershirt, and Morgan went to work wrapping it with the gauze before very carefully securing it with the entire cloth strip.

"All better," Morgan grinned as she secured the loose end of the cloth. "Does it feel alright?"

Lucina could hardly flex her elbow, and she was about to mention that the girl had gone a little overboard with the bandages, but she decided against it.

"It feels much better. Thank you, Morgan."

"That's good. I should pursue a triple career as a princess-tactician-cleric!"

"Um, maybe stick with just two for now..."

"What were those things, Mother?" Morgan asked quietly after retrieving her Elfire tome from where it had been knocked away from her. "They've been chasing me through this place ever since I woke up. They look human, but they're a lot scarier..."

"Risen," Lucina scowled at the word, taking a cloth out of a small pouch at her belt to wipe Falchion's blade before sheathing it. "Creatures of the dead who roam the world of the living."

"That explains a lot," the girl shivered. "Let's get out of here, Mother. I don't want to run into another one of those things."

"Yes, let's," Lucina nodded and pointed out the right direction to take. "I came in through there. Come on." Morgan hurried to join her, sticking a little bit closer than she had before the attack.

"Who are we going to go see?" she inquired innocently.

"We're going to meet up with my father," Lucina replied absentmindedly, still focusing on what directions to take.

"Your father the Exalt? So my grandfather then, right? I bet he's super nice like you are, Mother," Morgan blissfully surmised.

The word "grandfather" hit Lucina almost as hard as "Mother" had. She had completely forgotten: what was she possibly going to tell her father? Morgan was physical proof that she had a relationship together with Robin, and that somehow in a different timeline had a child with him... She turned nervously to the girl, who was walking with a spring in her step and probably thinking what Chrom would be like.

There was no doubt in her mind now that Robin was Morgan's father. The two looked so similar that the only thing that could have identified the girl as her child was her hair color, a trait hardly conclusive to parentage. The Brand in her eye however secured the fact that she was from the royal bloodline some way or another; unless Robin had married Cynthia, which Lucina figured was almost impossible, Morgan was her daughter.

She couldn't possibly hope to hide the girl from Chrom, and he would find out within a day or two regardless, and leaving the girl here was out of the question. Lucina saw no way out. She had tried as hard as she could to keep her relationship with Robin away from her father for as long as she could, but Morgan's simple presence was enough to shatter that illusion into pieces.

Lucina could faintly hear some of the Shepherds' voices echoing through the hallway; they were getting close. She didn't show it to Morgan, but she was having an internal panic attack trying to prepare herself for the inevitable stares and whispers that the girl would attract and to come up with what she would say to her father. The voices grew louder until Lucina found that the entrance hall was just around the corner. She stopped walking and turned to face the girl behind her.

"Morgan, just... try not to attract too much attention to yourself, okay? Act as calm as you can," she warned.

"I'll do my best!" the girl complied and gave a little salute, dropping her bouncy walk and becoming more serious.

"Here we go..." Lucina whispered under her breath, and she turned the corner with Morgan following close by. The hall was devoid of Risen, and the Shepherds were all conversing in a group, presumably centered around her father. It was bad enough to have to tell her father, but now she would end up telling everybody... _Of course... _

Like she had anticipated, as soon as they emerged from the corridor a few of the Shepherds who noticed Morgan immediately started whispering furiously and giving confused glances. Lucina put on a stoic face, and doing her best to completely ignore what the rest of the army thought, she marched straight through the group directly towards her father. Morgan kept close, trailing her every footstep and curiously returning a few of the Shepherds' stares.

"Lucina!" Sumia ran over to her as soon as she saw her and embraced her tightly. "Oh, Lucina..." Her mother almost started crying as she spoke. "I thought I had lost you..."

Chrom wasn't far behind and took both of them into his arms. "We thought the Risen had taken you," he explained in concern. "Oh gods, don't scare us like that."

"I'm okay, Father. Really, I am," Lucina tried to wriggle out of her parents' grip but found her attempts to be hopeless until they released her on their own accord.

"What did you think you were doing, running off like that without telling us where you were going?" Sumia scolded. "I almost had a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry, Mother..." Lucina apologized. "I just saw someone in the other corridor being attacked, and I had to leave to help."

"Who?"

In response, Morgan cautiously emerged from behind Lucina's back and gave a friendly wave. "Hi!"

Chrom and Sumia stared back at the girl with blank faces, completely caught off guard by her appearance. Both were completely silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, and Chrom was finally the first one to speak in a slow, perplexed voice.

"...Lucina? Why is this girl wearing... Robin's coat?"

Lucina had planned a delicate response to the question beforehand, but Morgan spoke up excitedly at the mention of Robin's name.

"Robin is my father!"

Lucina cringed as her parents' jaws fell open slightly. She had forgotten to tell Morgan to let her do the explaining. More silence.

"Lucina?" Chrom asked her again. "I thought you said that Robin didn't have a daughter from your time..."

"He didn't," Lucina explained. "But he does now."

Sumia took a few steps closer to the girl, thoroughly examining her in the process. When her mother peered into Morgan's eyes, Lucina immediately knew the charade was over. "Chrom..." she motioned for her husband to come look.

"She has the Brand..." her father's eyes widened.

"Are you my grandparents?" the girl blurted out, not recognizing the tense atmosphere of the conversation. "Yeah, you have the Brand too, Grandfather!" she pointed out the Mark of Naga on Chrom's shoulder.

"Grandfather?"

Before Chrom even had time to comprehend the meaning of the word, Morgan gave him a loving hug. "Did you miss me, Grandfather?"

Chrom stood as stiff as a plank of wood, completely and utterly dumbfounded. His expression may have been funny under different circumstances if it didn't terrify Lucina at the moment. She had no idea how he was taking this news other than the fact that he didn't look too thrilled to be hugged by someone he didn't know.

Morgan tore herself away from Chrom and immediately clung to Sumia. "Hello Grandmother!" she smiled widely. "Wow, you look great for your age!"

"Umm, thank you?" Sumia wasn't really sure how to reply either, but nevertheless she returned the girl's embrace.

Lucina laughed nervously and took Morgan by both the shoulders, separating the girl from Sumia and holding her close.

"Lucina... do you mind explaining who exactly this girl is? And why she just hugged us?" Sumia asked, trying to remain very calm.

Chrom hadn't moved an inch. "...G...Grandfather?"

Lucina nervously eyed him before explaining. "Mother, Father... This is Morgan. My... daughter..."

"Your daughter..." Sumia repeated. "And the father is..." Lucina saw a smile of understanding slowly form on her mother's lips. The same couldn't be said for her father.

Chrom's gaze shifted from Lucina, to Morgan, then back to Lucina in disbelief as the words slowly started to sink in. "Lucina... you and... Robin?" Chrom's teeth gritted in anger, and Lucina braced herself for the worst. "Did he... Is that..." He took Lucina by the shoulders abruptly. "What did he do to you!?" he growled, releasing her and placing his hands on Falchion. "I swear to Naga if that's why he ran away I'm going to find him right now and-"

Lucina's face immediately grew a bright shade of red as she began to understand what her father meant. "No! No, Father! That isn't what happened!" she protested. "He would never do that!"

"Then how did _she _get here!?" Chrom pointed directly at Morgan, who was taken off guard by his anger and cowered next to Lucina.

"I don't know! But nothing like _that _happened!" Lucina tried to figure out how she could reassure him.

"Sumia, what do you think of this?"

"Listen to her, dear..." Sumia soothed in an attempt to calm him down and gestured back towards Lucina.

"F...Father... I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this sooner... but I... love... Robin..." Lucina stammered, growing embarrassed. As soon as she uttered the three words the Shepherds broke out into more intense whispers, muttering about Robin and eying her strangely. Lucina thought she heard an "Oh my gods" from Severa somewhere in the back of the group, but figured it would be best to ignore it for now.

Chrom's anger began to fade, and he removed his hands from Falchion's hilt. Noticing Lucina becoming uncomfortable, Sumia stepped in to the conversation again.

"She does," her mother confirmed.

"Sumia? You were in on this too?"

"Only for a few days. She told me before we came here. It's why she's been so sad lately." Sumia explained, then turned to Lucina. "Is... it alright if I tell him, Lucina?"

Lucina hesitated, but nodded her head in agreement. "It would be better if he knew now. But... quietly..." she added, aware that most of the other Shepherds were listening in on the conversation as well.

Sumia heeded her request and leaned in closer to Chrom, briefly reiterating everything that Lucina had told her before about Robin in a hushed undertone. While her mother was doing so, Lucina heard another familiar voice call out to her.

"Lucy! Lucy!" An energetic hand rose up as Lucina's younger sister pushed her way through the crowd and into the small clearing that the Shepherds had formed around the center. "Lucy! You didn't tell me you had a daughter!"

"Cynthia... You don't have to shout..." Lucina mumbled, aware of how much attention her sister could draw. "...And please don't call me that. You know I don't like it..."

"Sorry!" Cynthia apologized quickly before turning to Morgan. "Hey there! I'm Cynthia! Your heroic Aunt Cynthia to exact!"

"Hello Auntie!" Morgan smiled.

"C'mon! Hero handshake!" Cynthia stuck out her arm expectantly.

"A what handshake?"

"Cynthia, no one knows your hero handshake except you and Owain..." Lucina groaned. Her sister had attempted it multiple times to different people with no success.

"I know, but I just wanted to try! It's the hero standard for greeting each other!" Cynthia protested.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Auntie, but I can try," Morgan complied, sticking out her hand as well.

Lucina was tempted to shut her eyes to spare herself the embarrassment, but as soon as Cynthia and Morgan both struck the same pose simultaneously she couldn't help but stare on in disbelief. Cynthia's eyes brightened with excitement and had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from yelling out as the younger girl matched her poses perfectly in succession, finally ending the move in a normal handshake.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Lucy...Lucina! Did you see that!" Cynthia burst as soon as they were finished. "She knows my handshake perfectly!"

Despite what she thought of as impossible earlier, Lucina began to have doubts regarding whether or not Cynthia actually _was _Morgan's real mother. No one else knew Cynthia's poses... "W...What?" she managed weakly. "Morgan, how did you know that?"

"I don't know..." Morgan looked as confused as Lucina was. "It just... came to me I guess..."

"That's so cool!" Cynthia cried out again, grabbing the girl's arm. "I need to show you to Owain right now!"

"Calm, Cynthia..." Sumia interrupted, having finished her talk with Chrom. "You'll have time to do that later."

"Sorry, Mother!" Cynthia released Morgan's arm and took a few steps backward, sensing that her father was about to speak judging from the way he was rubbing his chin. Lucina had forgotten for a moment that Sumia was telling him everything about Robin, and she quickly grew tense again over what he would possibly say. The whole room fell silent as Chrom thought.

"That sly dastard..." he spoke at last. The smile that grew on his face provided Lucina with much needed relief. "Slipping right past me to sweep my daughter off her feet. I even know how crafty he can be, but I would never have guessed."

"You... aren't mad?" Lucina had the feeling that she had this same conversation with her mother just the other day.

"What about it would make me mad?"

"Robin and I were just concerned that if we told you that you wouldn't accept our relationship. I didn't want to tell you because you two are such good friends, and I thought you wouldn't like him being your daughter..."

"Hey, I understand why you may have thought that," Chrom grinned. "But out of all the other people in this world who you could have chosen, I'm happy that you picked someone who I know that I can trust. I can't let my daughter run off with just anybody, can I? Honestly I couldn't have picked anyone else better for you." He smirked mischievously, getting another idea. "As an added bonus it also gives me something to hold over him. If he does anything I don't like I can threaten to take you away..."

"Chrom, honestly. I'm married to a child." Sumia rolled her eyes. "Stop scaring her and just be happy for them."

"I _am _happy," Chrom protested.

"Wait, I just realized something!" Sumia suddenly exclaimed, turning her attention to the girl next to Lucina who had been surprisingly quiet throughout the entire conversation. "I'm a grandmother and don't have a single wrinkle! As soon as I had you Lucina I thought how lovely it would be to have a grandchild, and now that dream has come true!" She excitedly reached over to rustle Morgan's hair. "And she's so precious!"

"Calling me a grandfather makes me feel old..." Chrom murmured. "At this rate I'll be a great-great-grandpa before I hit fifty..."

"Hey Chrom!" Vaike's voice called out jokingly. "I'm not sure if I can be rivals with such an old man! The Vaike's gonna have to take it easy on ya next sparring match!"

"Not now, Vaike..." Chrom located Vaike in the crowd and gave him a disapproving stare, to which the man only responded with a massive grin.

"Don't be goin' and breakin' any of your crusty bones now!"

Chrom only groaned and turned back to the conversation.

"So, Morgan, was it?" Sumia asked. "What was your future like before you came here?"

"Future?" Morgan looked confused. "What do you mean, Grandmother? I'm from here."

"Lucina, she doesn't remember?"

"No..." Lucina replied. "She has memory loss, just like her father apparently. I... must not have brought up the future with her before..."

"I don't understand," Morgan held her head. "What are you talking about, Mother? You know me, don't you?"

"Actually Morgan, I just met you today... You... aren't from this time. You come from years in the future."

"I what? That's ridiculous, Mother!" Morgan cried in disbelief.

"Well, I guess try to think about this: do I really look old enough to have a child as old as you are?"

"...No. Not really," the girl gradually spoke after looking Lucina over another time. "But then how are Grandfather and Grandmother not older then? They don't look too much older than you either, Mother."

"That's because I came to this time from the future as well," Lucina explained. "You must have come from a different timeline than mine."

"...That's... really confusing..." Morgan thought intensely. "But I guess it makes sense if you say so."

"We can talk about it more later if you want to, Morgan."

"Okay," the girl agreed, but then frowned as something else came onto her mind. "But wait, Mother... You said that Father was gone because he was looking me, but if I'm really from the future, wouldn't he not know that I was here?"

Lucina had desperately hoped that the girl had forgotten about that. She knew she shouldn't have given her that false hope. "Yes... You're right... The truth is, he isn't gone because he's looking for you. He's gone... because I made him leave..."

Morgan's eyes widened in shock. "W...What? Why would you... why would you make him leave if you love him, Mother?"

The torrent of emotions on Morgan's face was making Lucina revisit all of her feelings regarding the incident. "I thought... I thought that he was the one who will kill my father in this time..."

"Kill me?" Chrom asked. "Why would you possibly think that, Lucina? Robin would never try to hurt me!"

"I... I don't know... I haven't told anyone this, but in my future, Father, you... were betrayed by your closest friend, and after I saw Robin steal the Fire Emblem I thought I had proof that Robin was that person..."

"But Lucina, you know that it was Validar controlling him. He didn't act out of his own free will."

"I know that... but I was scared that something was going to happen to you very soon, and I was angry because I thought that he had lied about loving me. I let that blind anger get the better of me, and... and I tried to kill him! But I couldn't do it, Father! Not even for you!" Lucina felt herself growing teary-eyed again. "I loved him too much to do it! And now he's gone... I'm so sorry, Morgan..." she addressed the girl beside her. "It's my fault your father isn't around to be with you... I've only been a mother for a few minutes and I'm already terrible at it!"

"No, don't say that, Mother!" Morgan cried. "You... you just made a mistake, that's all! You can fix it, right?"

"I can't..." Lucina whispered. "I can't... I have no idea where he is, or when he'll come back, or even if he'll come back..."

"We can find a way to bring him back, Mother!"

"Don't... don't call me that, Morgan..." Lucina stammered. "You deserve a better mother than me... I'm a terrible person..."

"B...but!"

"I understand now..." Lucina spoke in a somber voice. "You must not remember me because you're suppressing those memories... I must have been such a bad mother to you that you didn't want to remember anything about me..."

"N...no! That isn't true, Mother! I can remember! I can remember everything for you! You were always... Umm... I meant to say that when I was little, you..." She started to panic, frantically hitting her hand with her hands. "I can remember!" she yelled to convince both Lucina and herself. "You... you said to me..."

Morgan's inability to remember only strengthened Lucina's assumption. Even Cynthia could be a better mother to Morgan than she ever could. "I don't know how to raise a child. I... I can't even decide between what's right and wrong. First I try to kill Robin and now I lied to you about it. I can't be a mother... I just can't..." Unwilling to break down in front of the entire army, Lucina attempted to put on the stoic face that she was used to wearing to hide her feelings, and with her final conviction she began to march out of the ruins. The rest of the Shepherds said nothing and only cleared a path for her.

"Lucy...Lucina! Don't go!"

"Wait! M...Mother! Come back!" Morgan tried to run after her, but Sumia caught her by the arm.

"Just give her some time to sort this all out, sweetie."

"I... I can't lose her too..." Morgan whispered in a voice only Sumia could hear.

"You won't," Sumia soothed, hugging the girl close. "You won't."

Morgan could only watch with teary eyes as her mother disappeared from view.

Lucina didn't stop walking until she reached the camp at the foot of the mountain. She was plagued with guilt and shame and uncertainty and regret. Pulling aside the flap to her own tent, she ducked inside and covered her face with her hands. All she could think about was Morgan's terrified face when she had practically disowned her, and how much it reminded her of Robin's on that night so many nights ago.

* * *

><p><strong>I promised more Morgan, so I hope I didn't disappoint with this long chapter stuffed with all sorts of feels!<strong>

**Auntie Cynthia got her debut as well, because I realized that she hasn't physically appeared in this story up until now! For anyone wondering, they fight a griffon because the Risen Chief in the Ruins of Time paralogue is also a Griffon Rider who mumbles something about needing to kill a future child when you engage it in battle. **

**Did Chrom react like you thought he would? He got a little worried at first that Robin ran away and abandoned Lucina because... you know..., but he's actually really accepting of their relationship once he gets the full story! Now Robin just needs to come back soon and everything will be fine... Right?**

**Poor Morgan... Her father isn't around and now her mother doesn't believe that she really is her mother...**


End file.
